A STUDENT'S TEXTBOOK 

IN THE 

HISTORY OF EDUCATION 



IN THE 



A STUDENT'S TEXTBOOK IN THE 

HISTORY OF EDUCATION 



BY 



STEPHEN PIERCE DUGGAN, Ph.D. 

FB0FE8SOB OF EDUCATION IN THE COLLEGE OF THE CITY OF NEW TOBK 




D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
NEW YORK CHICAGO 



Ml3 



COPTBIGHT, 1916, BY 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 



1^^ ^n"7o< 



OCT 16 1916 

Printed in the United States of America 

©CI;A438903 



TO MY WIFE 

SARAH E. DUGGAN 



PREFACE 

Some years ago I prepared a syllabus in the history 
of education for the use of my undergraduate classes in 
the College of the City of New York and in an exten- 
sion course offered to teachers in the city. This volume 
is the result of a suggestion on the part of those pupils 
that the syllabus be expanded into a textbook. It is 
written primarily as a teaching instrument, for students 
who are preparing to teach or who have a cultural in- 
terest in the subject but who are unable at the time 
to undertake a deeper or more detailed study than the 
survey here presented. Certain characteristics which 
have been kept in view ought, perhaps, to be mentioned. 

1. It is intended to be of practical assistance to the 
teacher in giving him a better understanding of present- 
day problems in education. Unless the history of edu- 
cation throws light upon the educational principles and 
practices of today, it has only an academic interest 
and should not be a prescribed subject in the training 
of a teacher. A series of questions and of topics for 
study has been put at the end of each chapter, therefore, 
to suggest further study in the relation of the content 
to the problems that confront us today, and to make 
clear the manner in which past experience may help to 
clarify present theories and practices. Each chapter is 
also prefaced by an outline to enable the student better 
to understand the facts of the text. Illustrations, where 
they have served to elucidate the text, have been inserted. 

vii 



PEEFACE 

2. It emphasizes modern education without slighting 
any other period. Attention is directed to the rapid 
changes that have taken place in educational organiza- 
tion and practice since Rousseau, and particularly to 
the tendencies of the present day. Moreover, the longest 
chapter of the book is the one devoted to the develop- 
ment of American education. 

3. It is a history of education, not a history of peda- 
gogy. Nevertheless, an attempt has been made to give 
an adequate view of classroom practices and of methods 
of administration in the evolution from the relatively 
simple systems of the past to the complicated and de- 
tailed systems of the present. To avoid burdening the 
memory with mere names and dates, attention has been 
concentrated upon the typical leader or leaders in each 
period; and to make an appeal to the understanding, 
the social background of each individual, institution, 
or movement studied has been carefully described. 

4. It aims to explain how Western civilization devel- 
oped the educational ideals, content, organization, and 
practices which characterize it today. For that rea- 
son ancient systems like the Chinese or Hiadu, which 
did not contribute directly to Western culture and educa- 
tion, are not considered at all, and the Spartan receives 
but a passing notice. On the other hand, the Jewish 
system, from which Western culture received so large 
a contribution in the form of religion, ethics, and lit- 
erature, is treated somewhat fully. 

5. It has for its primary purpose the explanation 
of the way in which each people has worked out the 
solution of the great problem that has confronted every 
people at all times, in all places, and in all stages of 
development, namely, the reconciliation of individual 
liberty with social stability; and of the way in which 

viii 



PREFACE 

each has organized its education to prepare the indi- 
vidual to live in accordance with that solution. When 
a people's political and social ideals changed, its sys- 
tem of education changed to conform to the new ideals. 
Similarly every great thinker who has written upon edu- 
cation has emphasized either social control, as did Plato 
in the ' ' Republic, ' ' or individual freedom, as did Rous- 
seau in the ''Emile. " One must always have this prob- 
lem in view if he is to appreciate the significance of the 1 
evolution of modern education. I 
In the preparation of this I am greatly indebted to ] 
several of my colleagues in the College of the City of i 
New York. Professor Harry C. Krowl read the entire \ 
manuscript, and Dr. Barclay W. Bradley and Mr. Philip i 
R. V. Curoe read both manuscript and proof. Every 
opinion and statement made in the book are my own^ 
but the criticisms as to the content and its organiza- i 
tion made by these gentlemen have been most helpfuL 
Professor Paul Monroe's "Text-book in the History of 
Education," Professor Frank P. Graves' ''History of j 
Education," and Professor Samuel C. Parker's "His- ■ 
tory of Modern Elementary Education" have been at all 
times sources of suggestion which I gratefully acknowl- , 
edge. In spite of my effort to be accurate, errors may ] 
have crept into the text, for which I must beg the indul- I 
gence of the reader. If the book should impress upon the ' 
general reader the conviction that educating its citizens \ 
is the most important function of the state, and upon the | 
prospective teacher the conviction that he is destined to' ,1 
engage in the noblest of professions, I shall feel repaid | 
for the labor spent upon it. ' 

Stephen Pierce Duggan \ 



CONTENTS 

PART I 
EDUCATION IN ANCIENT TIMES 



CHAPTER 



I. Introduction 

II. Jewish Education 

in. Greek Education 

IV. Greek Education (continued) 

V. Roman Education . 

VI. Early Christian Education 

PART II 
EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES 
VII. Education in the Middle Ages . 



PAGG 

3 
7 
15 
31 
51 
67 



77 



PART III 
THE TRANSITION PERIOD 

VIII. The Renaissance 113 

IX. Religious Formalism in Education . . 131 

X. Reaction Against Humanism: Realism in 

Education 156 

xi 



xii CONTENTS 



PAGR 



CHAPTER 

XI. A New Defence of Humanism : Formal Dis- 
cipline IN Education .... 182 

XII. Rationalism in Education: John Locke 

and the Enlightenment . . . 189 



PART IV 

MODERN TIMES 

XIII. The Emotional Reaction Against Formal- 
ism in Life : Naturalism in Education : 
Jean Jacques Rousseau .... 203 

XIV. Psychologizing Education: The Method- 

izERS, Pestalozzi, Herbart, Froebel . 222 

XV. The Question op Educational Values: Sci- 
ence in the Curriculum : Herbert Spen- 
cer 271 

XVI. Socializing Education Thru Philanthropy 

and Thru State Control . . . 286 

XVIL Present Tendencies in Education . . 309 

PART V 

NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION 

XVIII. The Development of National Systems of 

Education . . . . . . 329 

Bibliography ...... 387 

Glossary 389 

Index 391 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

The Didascaleum , . . 

The Palestra ' . 

School Materials from Wall Paintings . 

Punishment ...... 

The Medieval System of Education Summarized 

A Page from the "Orbis Pictus" of Comenius 

Father Pestalozzi ..... 

An Eighteenth Century School . 

Showing the Child Some of the Human Activities Neces- 
sary for Life ..... 

The Monitorial System of Instruction , 

A London Dame School in 1870 . 



PAGE 

17 

17 

58 

58 

83 

177 

240 

240 

261 
292 
299 



PART I 

EDUCATION IN ANCIENT TIMES 

Characteristics: The submergence of the man in the 
citizen. Education for civic life, hence emphasis upon 
the arts of speech. 



CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTION 

MEANING OF THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

Ow^Zwe.— Historically, education is the means by which 
nations have attempted to realize their social and spiritual 

ideals. 

These ideals are concerned primarily with the relative em- 
phasis to be placed upon the individual and upon social 
control. 

In the East the emphasis is upon social control; in the 
West, upon the individual. In the East education is pri- 
marily concerned with handing on traditional knowledge; in 
the West, with securing new knowledge. 

This book treats only the educational systems that have 
directly contributed to the ideals of Western civilization. 

From the standpoint of history, education is the means 
by which nations have attempted to realize their social 
and spiritual ideals. Every nation that has faith in its 
ideals wishes to have them transmitted for the benefit 
of its own posterity, and its system of education is the 
instrument by which it tries to do this. Because these 
ideals have been different in the several nations their sys- 
tems of education have differed. And because the ideals 
of the same nation undergo change its system of educa- 
tion will change. 

The Individual vs. the State. — Every child is born into 
society; no one is born unto himself. Society does 

3 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

not consist of a mere aggregation of individuals but of 
individuals organized into institutions such as the fam- 
ily, the state, the church. The education of the indi- 
vidual, therefore, involves making him conscious that 
he is a member of a social group and that he must live 
in relation to others, i. e., within the restrictions of so- 
ciety's institutions. Therefore, to understand the sys- 
tem of education of any society, it will be necessary to 
understand its institutions. The individual feels that he 
must have a certain freedom in order to realize his being. 
Society on the other hand feels that it must enforce cer- 
tain restrictions in order to save itself. Thus arises the 
problem of the state : How much freedom shall be given 
to the individual, and how much shall be taken from 
him? Thus arises also the problem of education: How 
may it be organized to develop the capacities of the indi- 
vidual in such a way as to render the greatest service 
to society? Each nation of the past and of the present 
has had a solution for these problems, but the extremes 
of difference in the solutions are to be found in the East 
and the West. 

Characteristics of Eastern Society. — In the East the 
idea of the unity of society is tenaciously held; the 
individual is suppressed, his destiny is controlled by 
some force external to himself, e. g., ancestor worship in 
China, or the caste system in India. Society is con- 
servative, it holds rigorously to the past and views with 
dread any change. The individual is meditative: he 
turns his mind in upon himself, not upon what is ex- 
ternal to him. He asks why he is here, whence he came, 
whither he is going. The result is that the East has 
contributed all the great religions to civilization. 

Hence the culture of the East consists in its traditional 
knowledge accumulated in its literature. We find, there- 

4 



INTRODUCTION 

fore, that the content of its education is practically con- 
fined to the literary element, e. g., the classics of the 
Chinese, the Vedas of the Hindus, the Bible of the Jews. 
As the word in which the truth was conveyed be- 
came fixed and definite, the form of expression became 
as important as the truth itself ; hence the chief method 
of learning was memoriter, and memory was the mental 
power which subordinated the present to the past. The 
result is that society in the East is static. That this is 
a consequence not of race but of education is evident 
from the rapidity with which the Japanese transformed 
their social system after the adoption of the content 
and method of Western education. 

Characteristics of Western Society. — In the West so- 
ciety is progressive, because the individual is exalted, 
not suppressed. Tradition has a comparatively small 
hold upon society, and reverence for what the ancestors 
did has but slight influence. The individual is not medi- 
tative, but investigative. He turns his mind outward to 
things external to himself, to man and nature. Hence 
he has contributed science, both natural and social, to 
civilization. 

The aim of the education of the individual is to enable 
him to realize himself, to develop to the utmost what is 
best in him. The content of education, therefore, is not 
merely literature embodying the experience and ideals 
of the race, but also science, the study of the phenomena 
of nature and society as they present themselves today. 
And the method of learning is not wholly the memoriter, 
but that of observation and investigation. The indi- 
vidual is taught the traditional knowledge and customs 
of society, not merely that he shall conform to them, but 
that he shall contribute to improvement and progress. 
Education is to enable the individual to muke his place 

5 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

in society, not to take the one into which he was born. 
The result is that society in the West is dynamic; it is 
there that civilization has witnessed its greatest progress. 
Aim of This Book. — It is impossible in the short sur- 
vey that this book makes to consider all the systems of 
society and of education that have appeared among 
men. Some principle of selection must be adopted. We 
shall, therefore, study only the systems of education of 
those nations which have contributed directly in some 
way to the ideals and educational methods of Western 
civilization. 



CHAPTER II 

JEWISH EDUCATION 

Outline. — The Jews contributed religion, moral ideals and 
literature to Western civilization. Their chief educative insti- 
tutions were religion and family life. 

The period from the Exodus, c. 1500 B.C., to the Exile, 
c. 586 B.C., was one of nationalization, in which the Temple 
worship and the Prophets played an important part. The 
education of the individual remained a purely family affair. 

After the return from Babylon, the Law became the great 
factor in the lives of the people. The scribes to teach it and 
the synagogue as the place of instruction in it became impor- 
tant institutions. 

In the second century before Christ the synagogue school 
arose to give elementary education with especial attention to 
the Law. Higher education was given in the Rabbinical 
schools. 

From the Jews "Western civilization has received the 
following contributions to its spiritual and social ideals : 
(1) its religion; (2) the basis of its system of ethics; 
(3) the most important part of its literature, the 
Bible. 

Institutions Which Were Educative. — The two institu- 
tions which received emphasis among the Jews were 
religion and family life. Religion was synonymous with 
patriotism. Jehovah was the God of Israel. Loyalty to 
Him was loyalty to the nation. Even after Jehovah as 
the greatest of all gods evolved into Jehovah as the only 

7 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

universal God, the Jews remained His chosen people. 
Man was made in His likeness and personal holiness 
before Him became the end of man's existence. The 
attainment of character, not knowledge, was the aim 
of life. Chastity as an element of holiness resulted in 
a higher regard for woman than was found among any- 
other ancient people. The mother as well as the father 
was honored. Children were welcomed as blessings. 
Religion and the family both emphasized the moral side 
of life. 

Historical Survey. — There were three great crises in 
Jewish history: (1) the Exodus from Egypt, c. 1500 
B.C.; (2) the exile to Babylon, 586 B.C.; (3) the de- 
struction of the Temple by Titus, 70 a.d. 

Before the Exodus the Jews were in the family stage 
of development, i. e., they consisted of an aggregation 
of families. The status of the father was, as with all 
early peoples, that of ruler, priest, and teacher. The 
first differentiation of function took place at the Exodus, 
when, according to the Bible, the tribe of Levi was set 
aside for various religious functions and the house of 
Aaron to furnish the priests and the high priests. But 
the teaching of the child remained in the hands of the 
parent and consisted solely in the training in family 
duties, secular and religious. 

The period from the Exodus to the Exile was a period 
of nationalization. The Jews went into Palestine organ- 
ized into tribes which fought among themselves when 
not united against the common foe. During all this 
period the great symbol of unity, and at the same time 
one of the chief educative influences, was the Temple 
and its worship. Three times a year every male Jew 
was expected to visit the Temple in person, and this 
practice had the same nationalizing influence upon 

8 



JEWISH EDUCATION 

the Jews as had the Olympic games upon the Greeks. 

The Prophets. — Towards the close of this period an- 
other educational influence which had arisen acquired 
its greatest influence, viz., the schools of the Prophets. 
Religion had become truly monotheistic and ethical, but 
because of the greater attractiveness of the sensual and 
non-moral religions about them, the Jews were con- 
stantly in danger of falling from the worship of Jehovah. 
The Prophets, who were laymen, arose as teachers of 
righteousness to recall the Jews from religious and moral 
backsliding. With their immediate followers they 
formed schools from which radiated many good influ- 
ences. For the Prophets taught not merely the necessity 
of personal holiness before the Lord, but the equally im- 
portant necessity of justice between man and man. They 
formed at times the opposition party in the state. As 
Jehovah was at that time emphatically a national god, 
the Prophets also had a strong nationalizing influence. 
They were religious seers and social reformers, who 
brought their followers together at various places to 
deepen their religious insight and fervor, before trav- 
eling among the common people to spread a greater 
knowledge of the religion of Jehovah and loyalty to 
it. It is in this sense only that the word *' school" is 
here used. 

The Exile. — The warnings of the Prophets were not 
heeded; and the Jews went into the Captivity, from 
which they learned a lesson of great national and educa- 
tional importance. They had been taken away from Pal- 
estine, and the Temple had been destroyed, and yet they 
had remained united. Why ? Because of the observance 
of the Law. Shortly before their removal to Babylon, 
King Josiah had caused to be reduced to writing the Pen- 
tateuch, which he made an authoritative code of laws. 

9 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

This code was the bond of union among the people dur- 
ing the Exile, and many additions were made to it, 
especially from the teachings of the Prophets. After 
the return of the Jews to Palestine under Ezra, the 
Law became the central fact in their lives, and its study 
and observance the most important duty. Two institu- 
tions arose with which it was associated : 

1. The scripture-scholars, or so-called "scribes," the 
professional class of teachers who were to have the Law 
in charge. 

2. The synagogue, the institution established as the 
place for its exposition. In every village among the 
Jews this institution was now founded, where twice on 
the Sabbath the people were assembled to listen to an 
exposition of the Law. It can be understood readily what 
an educational influence this would have upon the people. 
The Sabbath itself was a unique institution in the ancient 
period, of incalculable benefit to all the people. As time 
went on the scribes and the priests were held in equal 
veneration. 

The duty of the scribes was threefold: (1) To ex- 
amine and teach the Law. (2) To apply the Law to the 
daily lives of the people. It must be remembered that 
the Jewish Law was a mixture of criminal, civil, sani- 
tary, and ceremonial laws. It can readily be seen how 
deciding the way it should be applied to the daily lives 
of the people gave the scribes enormous power. (3) 
To interpret the Law. When the Jews were supposed 
to have received the Law, at the time of the Exodus, 
they were a nomadic, pastoral people. They had mean- 
time become an agricultural people and had also engaged 
in trade and commerce. The Law that had been given 
to them had to be interpreted to conform to new condi- 
tions. These interpretations of the Law, with the com- 

10 



JEWISH EDUCATION 

mentaries written upon them in later times, form the 
Talmud, which, in the period after the dispersion, 
became almost of equal importance with the Law it- 
self. 

Elementary Education: The Synagogue School. — ^With 
the passing of time it became increasingly evident to 
the Jewish leaders that the existence of Israel as a 
nation would depend, not upon its ability to defend itself 
physically against foreign military forces, but spiritually 
against foreign social influences. The nation was to be 
preserved through a knowledge and practice of the 
Law, and transmitting it to the child could no longer 
be left to the parent, who might be careless or indifferent. 
A great reverence arose for the rabbis, i. e., the scribes 
who became experts in the Law. The necessity for 
schools in which the youths were to receive instruction 
in this bond of union was admitted by all, and in the 
second century before Christ elementary schools became 
attached to the synagogue in many villages. Finally, 
A.D. 64, the High Priest, Joshua ben Gamala, ordered the 
establishment of an elementary school in every village. 
Attendance was to be compulsory for male children, and 
the school period was between the ages of six and fif- 
teen. An education somewhat similar to that given 
in the synagogue school, tho not so intensive, 
was provided for girls at home, in addition to instruc- 
tion in household duties. This resulted from the 
relatively high position held by women among the 
Jews. 

Content and Method of Study. — Great care was taken by 
the Jews in the selection of teachers for these elementary 
schools. They were of necessity scribes, married men 
of maturity and character. They usually pursued some 
other vocation in addition to teaching and were willing 

11 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

to give instruction gratis, tho accepting what their 
pupils could donate. They were held in the highest 
esteem among the people, being regarded as the real 
defenders of the nation, just as warriors were, among 
other peoples. The school equipment was very simple. 
The children sat upon benches facing the teacher who 
was supposed to have in charge a group of not more 
than twenty-five. The children were seldom provided 
with books, which were costly, but had wax tablets and 
a stilus with which to learn writing. The school day 
was from morning until evening with a recess at mid- 
day, and the only vacations were feast and fast days. 
The content of school work was instruction in reading, 
writing, counting, and the history of their people, the 
poetry of the Psalms, memorizing the Law as found 
in the Pentateuch, and the Mishna or oral law. In 
addition every boy had to learn some form of handi- 
craft. As with most peoples before the invention of 
printing, the method of teaching was chiefly oral instruc- 
tion and the method of study learning by heart. The 
teachers were skillful in correlating the various memories 
— ^visual, auditory, and muscular — upon a passage to 
be learned, and made extensive use of mnemonic devices 
and frequent repetition. The discipline was probably 
rigorous.^ 

Higher Education. — Even before the establishment of 
the elementary schools institutions for higher education 
had developed for the instruction of the scribes. These 
''houses of instruction" were at first established in the 
homes of prominent scribes, and were of the nature of 
colleges devoted to an intensive study of the Law and, 
in the later period, of the Law and the Talmud. The 

* The student is advised to compare the work of the syna- 
gogue school with that of the Greek music school on page 22. 

12 



JEWISH EDUCATION 

method of teaching was that of exposition upon the part 
of the master and afterwards of question and disputa- 
tion on the part of the pupils. In all probability, how- 
ever, the work was quite dogmatic in character and the 
interpretation of the master was accepted without much 
question. The strained interpretations and quibbling 
necessary to make a passage render a meaning to con- 
form to new conditions and advancing moral ideals 
would naturally sharpen the wits and develop a habit 
of close study. After the introduction of Greek culture 
— that dissolvent influence upon the Eastern world — 
with elements of education, such as art, science, and phi- 
losophy, unprovided by the Jewish system, and with its 
skeptical attitude of mind, the unquestioning acceptance 
of authoritative interpretation seemed to the leaders of 
the patriotic party an absolute necessity. This had a 
very narrowing and formalizing influence on life and 
education. 

Results of Jewish Education. — Jewish education con- 
formed to Eastern ideals, but with a difference. The 
individual was subordinated and his destiny was de- 
termined by a power external to himself; that power 
was God. Education consisted in transmitting the re- 
ligious literature chiefly by a memoriter and unques- 
tioning method ; but the saving feature of the whole sys- 
tem was that the Jew was taught to make holiness before 
the Lord the aim of his daily life. If the Jew was not 
as free and versatile as the Greek, he was more moral 
and stable. The great lesson to be drawn from a study 
of Jewish history and education is that not any national 
peculiarity but a strict adherence to an educational 
system having a peculiarly high moral ideal has pre- 
served the unity of the race. The salvation of a people 
is dependent upon its education. 

13 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Article on Jewish Education in Monroe's Cyclopedia of 
Education. 

Article on Education in the Jewish Encyclopedia. 

CuBBERLEY, E. P. Syllabus in the History of Education. 
Chap. VIII. 

Davidson, T. A History of Education, pp. 74-86. 

Graves, F. P. A History of Education. Book 1, Chap. II. 

Laurie, S. S. Pre-Christian Education. The Semitic Race, 

Leipziger, H. M. Education of the Jews. 

QUESTIONS, COMPARISONS, AND TOPICS FOR 
FURTHER STUDY 

1. Compare the attitude of the Jews towards mnemonic 
devices with that of educators today. 

2. What can be said in favor of the position taken by the 
Jews and by modem education towards the demand for 
maturity in a beginning teacher? 

3. What requirements can modem education justifiably 
demand of a teacher in addition to those of maturity, scholar- 
ship, and character demanded by the Jews? 

4. What is the value of committing to memory fine pas- 
sages of literature? 

5. Compare the relative importance of moral education 
among the Jews and modem peoples. 

6. Compare the influence of the rabbi among the Jews 
with that of the minister in early New England. 

7. Compare the effect of a written constitution upon 
Americans with the effect of an inalterable law upon the 
Jews. 

8. Give instances in nineteenth century history of nations 
realizing that "the salvation of a people is dejDendent upon 
its education." 

9. Compare the work and influence of a Jewish prophet 
like Isaiah with that of a modern revivalist like Whitfield. 

14 



CHAPTER III 
GEEEK EDUCATION 

Outline. — The Athenians contributed more elements to West- 
em civilization than any other ancient people. Their insti- 
tutional life was highly educative, and at first their education 
aimed chiefly at service to the state. 

From seven to sixteen the Athenian boy received his physi- 
cal education in the palestra and his intellectual education in 
the didascaleum, both private institutions. From sixteen to 
eighteen he continued his physical training in the public 
gymnasium. His moral and intellectual education was ob- 
tained thru contact with elder citizens. From eighteen to 
twenty he rendered military service, and at twenty-one became 
a citizen. 

The changes in Athenian life resulting from the Persian 
Wars offered great opportunities for individual self -advance- 
ment. To secure this a different kind of preparation was 
needed. This was furnished by the Sophists, whose phi- 
losophy placed a great emphasis upon the individual and whose 
education emphasized the arts of speech. 

Greek Contributions to Western Civilization. — The 
Greek bequest to Western civilization is ^eater than 
that of any other ancient people. Greece bequeathed to 
us art, philosophy, the scientific spirit, and a splendid 
part of world literature. The careful study of no other 
social system will assist the modern man so much to 
a wise solution of his own social problems. The educa- 
tional theory and practice of the Greeks have most sug- 

15 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

gestive contributions for us today. This splendid her- 
itage came chiefly from Athens and the cities whose 
ideals were nearly akin to the Athenian. As our study 
is confined to those peoples among the ancients that 
have directly contributed to Western civilization, we 
shall not consider the social and educational system of 
the Spartans. Moreover, the purpose of Spartan educa- 
tion was the same as that of the old Athenian education, 
viz., the education of the individual wholly for the 
service of the state. But in the manner of accomplish- 
ment, the Spartan omitted what was best in the Athenian 
system and never advanced, as did the Athenians, to a 
higher conception of individuality. Their system has 
few lessons for us beyond that of warning. 

The Problem of the Individual vs. the State. — The solu- 
tion that the Ionian Greeks made of the problem of the 
reconciliation of individual liberty with social stability 
differed from that of all other ancient peoples. Tho the 
individual lived for service to the state, it was recognized 
that the best service would be rendered by developing 
his personality in every direction. Freedom, therefore, 
characterized Greek life : political freedom, for the city 
state, though socially an aristocracy, was politically a 
pure democracy; intellectual freedom, for the Greek 
mind investigated without regard to the restraints of 
authority and tradition; moral freedom, for the action 
of the Greek was finally determined not by some ex- 
ternal authority, but by human reason. 

The Institutions Which Were Educative. — The institu- 
tions into which the Greek individual was born were 
in most cases highly educative in themselves. Among 
the more important of these were : 

1. The Assembly. — Here he listened to the debates for 
or against the laws which he participated in making. 

16 



GREEK EDUCATION 




The Didascaleum 




The Palestra 

Reproduced from illustrations taken from old vases by Freeman 

in his "Schools of Hellas" 



2. The Juries. — As every citizen sat on the juries, he 
obtained the education which came from seeing applied 
in practice the laws which he helped to make. 

17 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

3. The Theater. — This was free to the citizens, and 
they saw played there some of the greatest dramas that 
the human mind has produced. 

4. The Olympic y Isthmian, a7id Nemean Games. — 
These were religious ceremonies to typify the likeness 
of the human being to the gods. Greeks from all over 
Hellas flocked to listen to the finest products in ora- 
tory, drama, history, and poetry, and see the best that 
could be produced in art as well as to watch the con- 
tests in the games proper. 

5. The Throhhing Life of a Greek City. — ^With its 
inquisitive, disputatious inhabitants, this was an educa- 
tion in itself. 

Not all the institutions of Greece, however, were edu- 
cative from the modern point of view. 

Greek Civilization Had Its Blots. — 1. The Economic 
Blot — Slavery. — The fine life described above was for 
but a small part of the inhabitants, about a tenth at 
Athens in the days of Pericles. Moreover, slavery re- 
duced all forms of manual labor to a contemptible posi- 
tion, tho a large part of the free citizenry was engaged 
in manual occupations. 

2. The Social Blot — the Debased Position of Women. 
— Woman was regarded as having no social function in 
any other place than the home, to manage the household 
and to breed children. She seldom appeared in public, 
and participated little in the active life of the times. 
The Greek male lived in public and in the open and, 
like the modern club man, was seldom at home. His 
female intellectual companionship was found among the 
brilliant hetceroe whose very existence emphasized the 
low state of family life. 

3. Lack of Humanitarianism. — Infant exposure, the 
contempt for the cripple, the treatment of the abnormal, 

18 



GREEK EDUCATION 

all illustrate this. Some of these defects were general in 
antiquity, but in the practice of others the Greek fell be- 
low the standard of the Jew. 

4. A Non-Ethical Religion. — The Greek religion was 
largely ceremonial ; it was not definitely associated with 
moral instruction. Service to the city state was the 
chief sanction for good conduct. The deities in which 
the Greeks believed did not set them examples of moral 
action. 

Early Greek education, like that of most primitive 
people, was a family matter in which the child learned 
by imitation of his parent the work he was to do in 
life. Socially, tradition and custom held sway, and every 
individual was expected to devote his energy to the 
welfare of the state. But, unlike Eastern peoples, stand- 
ards advanced and changed as the result of the actions 
of individuals, until the social and educational system 
was developed which prevailed in the fifth century be- 
fore Christ. This development we shall now consider. 

THE OLD GREEK ESUCATIOK 

The Aim. — The aim of Athenian education of this 
earlier period may be best expressed as the production 
of individual excellence! for public usefulness. The 
training of the individual was for social service. The 
virtues of the Greeks were civic virtues. The Greek lived 
for his city state. But his education developed all sides 
of his personality. Attention was given to the training 
of the body as no less important than the training of the 
mind. And in the training of the mind attention was 
not merely directed to the intellectual processes but to 
the emotional and volitional as well. One of the finest 
characteristics of the Greeks was their sense of propor- 

19 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

tion, and it was prominently in evidence in their edu- 
cation. 

The Organization of Greek Education. — Elementary 
education at Athens was not a public function. It was 
the duty of the father to have his boy educated, and 
the state in a general way saw that the duty was per- 
formed. But the school was a private affair and the 
pupil's parents paid the teacher for his services. As 
anyone could open a school and no special qualifications 
were demanded, incompetents and failures in other walks 
of life sometimes undertook, as in our times, the work 
of educators, with the result that the teacher was not 
always held in high esteem. Instruction was not given 
in a single building as with us. Physical training was 
given in the palestra, a kind of open-air gymnasium. 
Mental training was given in the didascaleum, or music 
school, probably situated in the immediate neighborhood 
of the palestra. It was usually in the home of the 
teacher or in a public building, depending upon the 
number of pupils. Instruction was all individual. The 
equipment was very simple. The teacher sat higher 
than his pupils. They stood, or sat on stools, and had 
neither tables nor desks. The walls were unprovided 
with blackboards, maps, or any of the apparatus we 
associate with the school of today ; but upon them hung 
reckoning boards, writing tablets, reading rolls, and 
lyres. The school day among the Greeks was long, last- 
ing from early morning until late in the afternoon, but 
mental tedium was probably relieved by alternating 
work between the music school and the palestra. There 
were no long vacations, but the frequent festivals in 
honor of the gods provided many holidays. Tho the 
discipline of the Greek school was probably not very 
severe, corporal punishment was used. The educational 

20 



GREEK EDUCATION 

period was from seven to sixteen for the average boy. 
The girl received a training in domestic economy at 
home. Her education did not usually extend beyond 
this. 

Home Training. — As in the case of most peoples, until 
the age of about seven the Greek boy stayed at home 
under the control of his parents and nurses. Greek 
women of the home were usually so ignorant that in 
all probability children were badly brought up, without 
proper attention to habit formation. During this period 
the child's mental acquisition consisted of a knowledge 
of the rudiments of religion, morals, and manners. Phys- 
ically he was developed thru play, and it is interest- 
ing to note that the games of the Greek children were 
practically the same as those of our children. The girls 
played jacks, jumped rope, played with dolls. The boys 
played ball and leap-frog, spun tops, rolled hoops. When 
the boy was sent to school at seven, he was put in charge 
of an old slave called a pedagogu\s, who went to school 
with him and stayed with him until his return home. 
The pedagogics was responsible for the boy's conduct. 
He was to see that he did not play truant, that he 
studied his lessons, and that he behaved himself prop- 
erly. Sometimes he was the chief moral force in the 
life of the boy; sometimes he was chosen for this duty 
because he was fit for nothing else, and in that case he 
probably had little beneficial influence on the develop- 
ment of the boy's character. 

The Palestra. — The aim of the training in the palestra 
was not mere strength of body, not even that in addi- 
tion to grace of carriage and movement. The Greek 
never forgot the intimate connections between mind and 
body. Physical training had as part of its aim to make 
the body an efficient instrument to express the dictates 

21 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

of the mind. The various physical activities were organ- 
ized into the pentathlon, which consisted of running, 
jumping, throwing the discus, throwing the javelin, and 
wrestling. Wrestling was considered the acme of phys- 
ical training because, in addition to bringing every 
muscle of the body into play, it supplied a mental train- 
ing thru the need of quick perception and judgment. 
Dancing was also taught because of its value in making 
movements gentle and graceful, and because of its use 
in religious exercises. It did not resemble modern 
dancing, however, but consisted of rhythmical move- 
ments of the whole body. Finally, open-air sports 
played as large a part in Greek as in modern English 
education. 

The Music School. — The aim of the music school was 
to give a knowledge of music, i. e., everything over which 
a muse presided. Music, in other words, was a synonym 
for our word culture. A boy began his school work, as 
with us, with instruction in reading, writing, and count- 
ing. Reading was a very difficult thing to learn and 
took a long time, as neither accenting nor punctuating 
had yet been introduced, and there was no spacing be- 
tween words. The attention given to the subject, how- 
ever, resulted in the Greek boy reading with remarkable 
accuracy and expression. Writing was taught by means 
of a wax tablet and a stilus. The stilus was an instru- 
ment pointed at one end with which to make the letters, 
and flat at the other end with which to erase them. After 
he had thus learned to write, the boy wrote on papyrus 
with pen and ink. Arithmetic with the Greeks, as with 
all peoples until the Arabs introduced the Hindu nota- 
tion, amounted only to counting. The Greek system of 
notation consisted of their alphabet modified by diacrit- 
ical marks, and like the Roman system was too cumber- 

22 



GREEK EDUCATION ' 

some for any of the higher arithmetical processes. All 
the ancients were skillful in using their fingers for arith- 
metical purposes. These elementary subjects were 
learned thru imitation. 

The important subjects in a Greek boy's mental educa- 
tion were literature and music jn the narrow sense. The 
textbook for his literary training was Homer, of which he 
was compelled to learn whole passages by heart. Homer 
was the Greek's Bible. From it the boy not only learned 
to speak, to read accurately, and to appreciate the choic- 
est passages of literature, but also received his moral in- 
struction. The aim of the literary training was to enable 
the boy to give expression to the feelings contained in the 
text, and it was in this way that the work was so closely 
associated with music. Music was not a distinct art as 
with us, but subsidiary to literature. The older boys had 
to improvise their own music to express the idea prop- 
erly. Gj::ea±_ emphasis was placed upon music as a 
source of moral training. Dictation and composition 
were probably other elements in the work of the music 
school. The important thing to notice is that, altho 
the method of learning was by imitation, the aim was 
always to develop the powers of expression, not merely 
those of receptivity. 

Higher Education for Civic Service. — Elementary edu- 
cation occupied an indefinite period, according to the 
financial ability of the parents to keep the boy in school. 
At the sixteenth year the sons of the wealthy passed on 
to higher education, which carried with it the probability 
of being elected to positions of leadership. This higher 
education was under state control and supervision, of 
two years duration, given in the gjrmnasium, and was a 
preparation for military service to the state. The ele- 
ments of the pentathlon were organized into a variety 

23 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

of exercises of a more vigorous kind. The boys indulged 
in boxing and the pancratiuTn, a combat in which any 
means of winning was justifiable. But, altho the boy's 
direct training was wholly physical, he received an in- 
direct mental training of great value. The gymnasia 
were situated outside the walls of the city and in parks. 
These parks were rendezvous for statesmen, moralists, 
and exponents of new ideas. Between their periods of 
work in the gymnasium the boys went out into the park 
and listened to these men expounding their favorite 
themes. Too much emphasis can hardly be given to the 
value of the association of the boys with adult citizens 
engaged in their normal activities in their natural en- 
vironment. They thereby learned moral standards thru 
contact with living, real examples ; and were informally 
initiated into the customs, laws, and past experience of 
their people. Moreover, tho under strict supervision 
by an official moral overseer, the boys had a very wide 
liberty, attended the theaters and law courts, listened to 
discussions at banquets and in the market place, and 
participated in religious exercises. 

Citizenship. — At eighteen, as the result of an examina- 
tion into his physical and moral qualifications, the boy 
became an ephehos, i. e., a citizen novice. His father or, 
in case he was an orphan, the state, presented him with 
his arms and he took the ephebic oath of loyalty before 
the assembled citizens. For the next two years he re- 
ceived his direct military training, at first near the city 
in the use of arms, afterwards on the frontier in the 
duties of a soldier. He was also trained in the conduct 
of public affairs, and participated prominently in public 
festivals and religious ceremonies. At the expiration 
of that time, as the result of an examination upon the 
duties of citizenship, he became a full-fledged citizen and 

24 



GREEK EDUCATION 

participated in the institutional education spoken of in 
the beginning of this chapter. 

Results of Greek Education. — The results of Greek 
education were obtained by the use of a few subjects 
actively and intensively participated in by the pupils. 
The subjects that are considered so necessary to culture 
and discipline in modern education were not found 
among the Greeks in the best period of their history. 
There was little instruction in mathematics, none in 
foreign languages or in science. Even grammar and 
drawing were not introduced until later. It was, how- 
ever, a learning by doing : the recitation of epic poetry, 
the singing of lyrics and playing of accompaniments, 
the physical exercises, all involved motor elements; and 
the intellectual training of the two years of association 
with adults consisted of discussions and watching men 
in action. It is a question, whether, in intellectual 
acumen, emotional appreciation, and volitional accom- 
plishments, any other social and educational system 
produced a finer type of individual than the average 
Greek citizen of the Periclean Age. And, despite its 
many limitations, in what other society was there made 
a better solution of the problem of reconciling indi- 
vidual liberty with social stability? 

THE NEW EDUCATION—THE SOPHISTS 

Changes in the Social Life of Athens. — The Persian 
Wars resulted in a great expansion of all forms of human 
activity thruout Greece, but especially in Athens. Athens 
assumed the hegemony of Ionian Greece and became the 
metropolis of the Grecian world. Her trade and com- 
merce grew rapidly, and, as a result, foreigners in large 
numbers settled within her walls to take advantage of 

25 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

the opportunities for acquiring wealth. These for- 
eigners brought with them diverse customs, religious 
and moral views, and ways of looking at social affairs. 
From the conflict between these and the customs and 
traditions of the native citizens there resulted a tendency 
to question and reason about that which before had 
been accepted unthinkingly. Belief in the gods and 
their control over the affairs of men began to yield to a 
search for a more rational explanation of phenomena. 
This change was reflected in morals which, having lost a 
religious basis, were now unprovided with any basis ; and 
in politics, where birth was yielding to wealth in the 
privileges of citizenship. Society was, in fact, in a 
state of flux. Moreover, the increase in governmental 
functions, the necessity of sending diplomats abroad 
and military and civil officials to the tributary states, 
offered a much greater number of opportunities for self- 
advancement to the individual, particularly to the keen- 
witted and unscrupulous. A parallel can be drawn be- 
tween the social situation in Athens after the Persian 
Wars and in the United States since the Civil War. 
Only, whereas the chief opportunities for self-aggran- 
dizement in our country since the Civil War have been 
in the world of industry, in Athens they were to be 
found in civil life, the only field of activity in which the 
Greek ->itizen engaged. And just as the great expansion 
in industrial life in our country caused a remarkable 
change in higher education resulting in the introduction 
of new subjects of study, many of them technical and 
vocational, so a similar change took place in the higher 
education of the Greek youth to prepare him for the 
changed conditions in social living. Moreover, just as 
with us the young men have flocked to the new teachers 
of science, causing the breakdown of the old classical 

26 



GREEK EDUCATION 

curriculum, so were the new teachers at Athens received 
with enthusiasm by the youth of that city. 

Character of the Sophists. — These new teachers were 
called Sophists. They were learned, well-traveled men, 
usually non-Athenians who were attracted to the me- 
tropolis by the opportunities to teach. They were dis- 
liked by the conservatives chiefly because they accepted 
pay for their teaching. It will be remembered that 
the higher mental education of the Athenian youth was 
indirect, received in converse with the best of the citi- 
zens in the groves of the gjrmnasia and elsewhere. The 
aim of this indirect teaching was the formation of char- 
acter, a process into which the old-fashioned Athenian 
believed there could enter no financial consideration. 
Another objection to the Sophists sprang from the con- 
tent of their teaching, which we shall consider below. 

Aim and Content of Their Work. — The aim of the edu- 
cation of the Sophists was to prepare the individual to 
conform to the changed social conditions and thereby 
secure his personal advancement. As there was no press 
in Athens, the chief way to secure influence as well as 
political and civic preferment was by speech. Hence 
the chief content of the education of the Sophists was 
the arts of speech, and Greek civilization owed much 
to them in the organization of these arts. They taught 
declamation and oratory, and out of the refinement of 
these as arts developed grammar and rhetoric. How- 
ever, these were formal studies, and in their application 
the Sophists took their material from politics and ethics 
chiefly. It was their point of view in these latter sub- 
jects which gave greatest offense to the conservatives. 

The Principal Source of Their Offense.— Protagoras, 
the chief of the Sophists, predicated as his fundamental 
principle, ''Man is the measure of all things.'' Knowl- 

27 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

edge must be individual for it comes thru the senses; 
and, as the senses of no two individuals are the same, 
there can be no such thing as principles or truths of 
universal validity. Each individual, therefore, must 
determine for himself what his attitude towards his 
neighbor, the state, and society shall be. The Sophists' 
method of teaching was chiefly the lecture system, the 
one calculated to develop a habit of ready acceptance 
rather than of independent thinking. 

Social Results of Their Work. — The Sophists thus 
placed an extreme emphasis upon individualism. 
Whether the disintegration of moral standards which 
was synchronous with their work was the result of their 
teaching is a question. It might have been the result 
of the changed social conditions which tempted men into 
a scramble for self-aggrandizement. Men were, of 
course, glad to have a group of thinkers provide them 
with a philosophic justification for their views and ac- 
tions. There can be no doubt, however, that their teach- 
ing expressed the change in the relation of the individual 
to the state. The view that the entire energy and, if 
necessary, the life of the individual were to be devoted 
to the welfare of the state gradually disappeared. *What- 
ever may have been the result upon society, their work 
broadened the intellectual horizon and enriched the 
mental content of the individual. 

Influence ITpon Education. — Upon higher education 
the influence of the Sophists was profound. The em- 
phasis was no longer upon education for civic duties, 
but for personal advancement and pleasure. Hence the 
training of the body in the gymnasium gradually yielded 
in importance to the training of the mind in the lecture 
room. The Sophists first introduced the intellectual ele- 
ments into Athenian education. Tho they did not en- 

2S 



GREEK EDUCATION 

gage in elementary education, this did not remain un- 
affected. Literature and music remained the staple of 
instruction, but the study of literature for its moral 
content gave way to the criticism of literary form, and 
music as primarily a training in morals to music for 
pleasurable effect. In the palestra the severity of the 
training was much relaxed, and aimed at esthetic ef- 
fects more than formerly. Education became more a 
matter of the schools, in which learning tended to super- 
sede doing. 

QUESTIONS, COMPARISONS, AND TOPICS FOR 
FURTHER STUDY 

1. Contrast the place of play in Greek education with its 
place in modem education. Do athletics today hold a larger 
place in American education than did games in Greek educa- 
tion? What evils attend American athletics that were not 
present in Greek games, and why? 

2. Compare the place of music in Greek education and in 
modem education. Is music taught as a science or an art in 
the elementary schools today? As which of the two should 
it be taught? 

3. How did the length of the school day and school term 
of the Greeks compare with ours? Is our long summer vaca- 
tion justified? 

4. Compare the education of the Athenian boy during the 
ephebic period (16-18) with that of a continental European 
under military conscription (21-23). 

5. Compare the influence of immigration upon American 
social ideals with its influence upon Athenian social ideals. 

6. Compare the influence of the Sophists upon higher educa- 
tion in Athens with the influence of the teachers of science in 
the United States after the Civil War. 

7. In what respects did the methods of the Sophists resemble 
the coaching schools for civil service examinations today? 

29 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

8. Compare the emphasis upon expression as a method in 
Greek education with the emphasis it receives in modem edu- 
cation. 

9. What institution in American political life resembles 
the assembly in Athens? Upon whom have political institu- 
tions had the greater influence, the Greek or the American? 

10. Does the state today exercise as much supervision over 
private schools as did the Greeks? What is the attitude of 
the state towards denominational schools? 

11. Do modem social conditions justify the great emphasis 
upon knowing as compared to the emphasis of the Greeks 
upon doing? 

12. What was the influence of the climate and topography 
of Greece upon the esthetic development of the people? 

13. What, if any, social institutions or activities of Ameri- 
can life today have a bad educational influence? 

For Bibliography see page 48 at end of Chapter IV. 



CHAPTER IV 

GEEEK EDUCATION (Continued) 

THE SEARCH FOR A NEW SOLUTION 

Outline. — The Greek educational theorists, Socrates, Plato, 
and Aristotle, sought a new solution for the problem of recon- 
ciling individual liberty with social stability. Socrates found 
this in a morality based upon knowledge, the elements of which 
exist in the consciousness of every man. A new method 
by which to formulate this knowledge was necessary and this 
was provided by Socrates in his "conversational quiz." 

Plato maintained that the knowledge demanded by Socrates 
could be obtained only by the philosophers who could pierce 
behind what was phenomenal and attain to the real. He sug- 
gested a social system entirely controlled by the state, in which 
each individual would be educated for the place and work for 
which by nature he is best fitted. 

Aristotle suggested an education to prepare the individual 
to guide his conduct in association with his fellow men by 
reason. Up to seven, the education would be almost exclu- 
sively physical; up to fourteen it would be devoted to the 
irrational part of the soul and aim at good morals; up to 
twenty-one it would be devoted to the rational part of the 
soul and aim at intellectual advancement. 

After Aristotle, Greek education followed two lines of 
development: one resulted in the establishment of the rhetori- 
cal schools which prepared for the practical life; the other 
in the establishment of the philosophical schools which pre- 
pared for the speculative life. The schools in the course of 
time coalesced into the Greek universities, the chief of which 
were at Athens and Alexandria. 

31 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

A. SOCRATES (469-399 B.C.) 

Problem of Socrates. — The Sophists, as we have seen, 
encountered the bitter opposition of the conservatives 
in Athenian society. And yet it was evident that the 
old institutional basis of jnorals had gone forever. It 
was equally evident, however, that the negative attitude 
of the Sophists could not adequately fill the void. The 
problem of the reconciliation of individual liberty with 
social stability and welfare had still to be solved, Soc- 
rates undertook to find a new basis for a solution in a 
morality founded upon knowledge. 

His Solution. — Socrates accepted the fundamental pos- 
tulate of Protagoras, * ' Man is the measure of all things. ' ' 
Before using a measure of any kind one should 
understand it. Therefore, said Socrates, ''Know thy- 
self. ' ' If one attempts to do that by reflection upon his 
own experience and that of others, he will soon discover 
that, however individual his perceptions may be, they 
have more points in common with the perceptions of 
everybody else than points of difference. In other words, 
the materials out of which are to be formulated ''whole 
thoughts" and principles of conduct of universal valid- 
ity and general application exist in the consciousness of 
the individual. 

The Aim of Education. — Hence when Socrates accepted 
the dictum, "Man is the measure of all things," it was 
not what was individual in man, but what was universal ; 
the truth was not the particular opinion of the indi- 
vidual man, but the knowledge that is common to all 
men. To lead the virtuous life it is necessary to have 
this knowledge of universal validity. Knowing the 
right will be followed by doing the right. Knowledge is 
virtue. The aim of education is: 

32 



GREEK EDUCATION 

1. To show that knowledge is at the basis of right 
action in all the arts, including the art of living, which 
chiefly interested Socrates. Tho not everybody has the 
knowledge of the right, everybody has the power latent 
vnthin him to arrive at that knowledge. 

2. To develop that power, viz., the power of correct 
thinking. 

His Method. — This cannot be done by the lecture 
method of the Sophists, which Socrates considered gave 
only information, second-hand knowledge. He substi- 
tuted, therefore, his conversational quiz: 

-, . -r^. , ^. S Ironic — destructive element 
Socratie Dialectic | Maieutic-constructive element 

In practice, Socrates would ask someone his opinion, 
usually about some chance event or matter of daily ex- 
perience which he could turn to account as illustrating 
a general principle of conduct. If the opinion were 
wrong, Socrates by a series of questions would lead the 
individual either to a reductio ad ahsurdum, or to a 
contradiction of his original statement. This was the 
Socratie ironic element. Often by another series of 
questions he developed in the mind of the individual 
the correct idea of which his original opinion was only 
a part. This was the Socratie maieutic element. 
(maieutic, giving birth to; Socrates called himself an 
intellectual midwife.) The individual was first led from 
unconscious ignorance to conscious ignorance and then 
to clear and reasoned truth. 

Results of His Work. — Socially the aim of Socrates was 
to rid society of the influence of mere opinion and re- 
place it by a knowledge of the general truths that under- 
lie right conduct in all the activities of life. In the indi- 
vidual he aimed to develop the power to think for him- 

33 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

self, to arrive at his own knowledge, to attain to free 
personality. In education his work resulted in a great 
emphasis upon knowledge and, moreover, upon the prac- 
tical knowledge that leads to correct action in ^everyday 
life. To Socrates the study of nature and the natural 
sciences was fruitless; only man and his actions and 
productions were worth studying. His method became 
the dominant one in higher education. It is to be noted, 
however, that, as used by Socrates, the conversational 
quiz can be applied only to those subjects whose content 
is found in the experience of the individual. One can 
teach psychology or ethics in that way, but not litera- 
ture, history, or science. Moreover, there is a danger 
that its use, especially in unskillful hands, may lead to 
quibbling rather than to truth. This use of the method 
by Socrates led to his undoing. As the years went by 
the number of men convicted of hypocrisy by its use 
and held up to public ridicule increased until they were 
sufficiently numerous to bring about his downfall upon 
the false charge of denying the existence of the gods 
and corrupting the morals of the youth. 

B. PLATO (427-347 B.C.) 

Why We Study Plato. — Socrates wrote nothing, nor 
did he found any educational institution. What his 
educational views were are discernible by a comparison 
of the works of his two disciples, Xenophon and Plato. 
It is sometimes hard in Plato's work to determine what 
is Socratic and what is Platonic. But in the dialogue 
called the ' ' Republic, ' ' his work on the ideal state, Plato 
in his ripe manhood contributed the first systematic ex- 
position of the educational problem written in the West, 
an exposition which is for all times full of suggestive- 
ness from the standpoint of educational theory and 

34 



GREEK EDUCATION 

practice, an exposition in which it is predicated that 
education is not only a function of the state but the 
chief function of the state as well. In *'The Laws," a 
description of the best state, written in his old age, Plato 
rejected many of the political and educational ideas in 
the ' ' Republic ' ' and proposed a solution based upon the 
old conservative Greek view. 

The Philosophic Basis of His Educational System. — 
Plato accepted the fundamental principle of Socrates, 
viz., ''Knowledge is virtue." Socrates had been chiefly 
interested in the practical problem of developing in the 
individual the power to obtain knowledge. Plato was 
interested in the metaphysical problem of the nature of 
knowledge. What is knowledge ? That which conforms 
to reality. But what is reality? The answer to this 
brings us to the very heart of Plato 's philosophy. Real- 
ity cannot be the merely phenomenal, that which is 
transient and temporary, but must be that which is 
permanent, that which is not dependent upon sense 
perception for existence. Everything phenomenal is 
patterned upon an ideal, so that however much the indi- 
viduals of any class of phenomena, e. g., man, may differ 
in details, they are all alike in their resemblance to the 
ideal or idea upon which they were modeled and the 
real world as opposed to the phenomenal is the world 
of ideas. We come to a knowledge of the phenomenal 
world by means of our five senses, but to pierce beyond 
the world of phenomena and come to a knowledge of 
what is real requires the possession of a sixth sense. 
Only a very few, viz., the philosophers, possess this sixth 
sense; hence only they know what is real as against 
what is apparent. Only they, therefore, are fit to rule. 

From what has just been said, it is evident that any 
phenomenal thing functions properly when it attains 

35 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 



the gi-eatest possible resemblance to its idea. There is 
a specific good for every phenomenal existence, but the 
supreme good, the summum honum, is the abstract idea 
of goodness which is characteristic of all kinds of good 
things. The knowledge of the supreme good is virtue; 
to attain that knowledge is the aim of life; to develop 
the powers to attain it is the aim of education. Now 
an analysis of the idea of man shows that he is made 
of three elements: 



Elements 


Function 


Virtue 


Ma.n 


Appetites 

Passions 

Intellect 


Support 
Defense 
Control 


Temperance 

Courage 

Wisdom 



When these three elements act harmoniously, i. e., when 
they illustrate their accompanying virtues, when the 
appetites are devoted merely to support and not in- 
dulgence, when the passions are devoted to self-protec- 
tion and not foolhardiness, when the intellect is used 
exclusively for wise guidance, then the individual func- 
tions properly and attains to his end, virtue. Now 
''the state is the individual writ large." Hence, if we 
analyze the idea of the state, we find three elements 
corresponding to the three elements in the composition 
of the individual. These are: 



Elements 


Function 


Virtue 


State 


Artisans 
Soldiers 
Rulers 
(Philosophers) 


Support 
Defense 
Control 


Productivity 

Honor 

Wisdom 



36 



GREEK EDUCATION 

The state will function properly, therefore, and attain 
its end, justice, when those three classes act har- 
moniously, i. e., when the artisan class supports society, 
the soldier class defends it, and the philosophers rule it. 
The Educational System in the "Republic." — ^What 
system of education should be organized to attain these 
ends, viz., virtue in the individual and justice in the 
state? Plato's answer to this question is to suggest an 
ideal society organized as an aristocratic socialism. The 
state must control everything. It determines who shall 
marry, marriage being a mating merely to breed citi- 
zens. Family life is abolished and the child at birth 
becomes the property of the state. The state decides 
whether or not it shall be permitted to live. It is not 
even nursed necessarily by its own mother. The or- 
ganization of education Plato took from Spartan prac- 
tice; the content from Athenian practice. Until seven 
years of age the child is developed physically thru 
play and learns morals and religion. From seven to 
sixteen it receives in the state school a training similar 
to that given to the Athenian youth in the palestra and 
music school, with slight modifications of content. Liter- 
ature is to be purified of everything tending to have an 
immoral or irreligious influence; gjonnastics and music 
are to be practiced primarily with the view to improve 
the soul. At sixteen, the first diifferentiation in so- 
ciety takes place. (Those youths and maidens — for the 
same education is given to both sexes — who have shown 
that they are governed chiefly by their appetites are 
drafted off into the artisan class. The rest continue to 
be educated until the age of twenty in physical training 
and military discipline, and then a second differentia- 
tion takes place. Those among them who have shown 
themselves governed chiefly by their passions are drafted 

37 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

off into the soldier class. The remainder continue to 
be educated in the sciences, arithmetic, geometry, 
astronomy, and music, i. e., the quadrivium of the 
medieval period. At thirty a third differentiation takes 
place. Those who have shown themselves governed 
merely by their intellect are put in charge of the sub- 
ordinate positions in the state. The few remaining 
persons, who possess in addition the sixth sense for ideas, 
continue to be educated for five years more in dialectic 
philosophy, i. e., a knowledge of ''reality/' At thirty- 
five they enter the service of the state in their special 
work of ruling and continue until fifty. Then they 
retire from active service to devote their remaining 
years to study and reflection, the highest life of all. 

Value of Plato's Educational Ideas. — The scheme of 
education advocated in the ''Republic" is based upon 
the fundamental ethical conception that every person 
ought to be engaged in doing that which he is by nature 
best fitted to do. It follows that education should dis- 
cover in the individual what he is best fitted to do and 
then provide the training which will enable him to do 
it. The individual will thereby not only attain to per- 
sonal happiness but render his best service to society. 
The possibility of a wrong diagnosis is counterbalanced 
by the possibility of the elimination of the misfit. It 
is true that Plato's division into classes was a narrow 
one, and that the action of the human will in enabling 
the individual to make his place in society rather than 
to take the one assigned him is minimized. But the 
principle of selection was based upon worth and that 
must always be the basis for a stable and efficient organi- 
zation of society. Practically, the Platonic solution of 
the problem of the reconciliation of individual liberty 
with social stability would result in the suppression of 

38 



GREEK EDUCATION 

the individual ; but theoretically it would result in the 
best harmony of the two factors in the problem. Edu- 
cationally, his insistence upon the acquisition of the 
theoretical knowledge at the basis of every practical 
art and his assignment of an equal place to women in 
the educational scheme put Plato far in advance of 
his time. But in his overemphasis upon knowledge, in 
his neglect of the development of right feeling as neces- 
sary to make right knowing result in right action, Plato 
did not rise even to the ideas of his own time. It was, 
in fact, because he was out of sympathy with his time 
that the *' Republic" had practically no influence in 
his day. But in its emphasis upon the contemplative 
life as superior to the civic life it paved the way for 
Christian asceticism, and its vision of the world of 
ideas in turn provided the early Christian philosopher 
with a philosophic basis for many of his ** visions.'' 

C. ARISTOTLE (384-322 B.C.) 

We study Aristotle (1) because he had a greater 
influence on subsequent times both in the thought life 
and in education than any other man, (2) because he 
represents the culmination of Greek intellectual life. 

The theoretical side of Aristotle's views on education 
is found in the ** Ethics," but the practical and more 
important part is found in the * * Politics. ' ' These books 
are written as scientific treatises and have not, there- 
fore, the literary charm of Plato's dialogues. The 
' ' Politics " is a fragment. The last part of it, that deal- 
ing with higher education, either was not written or 
was lost. 

His Relation to Plato. — Aristotle was a disciple of 
Plato, but he differs from Plato in his solution of the 

39 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

problem of the reconciliation of individual liberty with 
social stability. Aristotle denies the validity of Plato's 
fundamental postulate that ''knowledge is virtue.'* He 
insists that virtue is an accompaniment of doing, not 
of knowing. His denial of Plato's position is based 
upon his rejection of Plato's theory of reality. Ab- 
stract ideas for him have no existence save as forms, 
and we can attain to no knowledge of them save as they 
are embodied in concrete objects, and by the use of our 
five senses. Since reality does not consist of ideas, man 's 
highest possible attainment is not the possession of a 
knowledge of ideas, nor is the end of his education the 
securing of such knowledge. Virtue is attained when 
a thing acts in accordance with its highest function. 
Now the highest function of man is reason, hence to 
attain his end, his summum honum, he must live accord- 
ing to reason. But man is a social animal. Virtue and 
happiness will, therefore, consist with him in acting 
in association with his fellow men according to those 
principles of conduct which reason tells him are right. 
His System of Education. — ^What system of society and 
of education will best realize this desideratum? As the 
result of a comparative study of a very large number 
of the constitutions of states which existed in his day, 
Aristotle in the ''Politics" concluded that, tho mon- 
^chy is theoretically the best form of government, 
democracy is the form most likely to be exercised for 
the general welfare. But it was democracy in the purely 
Greek sense, a city state based upon slavery in which 
the industrial classes should be excluded from citizen- 
ship. Altho a foreigner, Aristotle's conceptions both 
of society and of education approach much nearer the 
Athenian ideals than do those of Plato, who was a pure 
Athenian. Aristotle is one with Plato in making the 

40 



GREEK EDUCATION 

education of its citizens the chief means of securing the 
welfare of the state; but because he rejects Plato's con- 
ception of the ideal state, his educational scheme neces- 
sarily differs from Plato's. He condemns Plato's de- 
struction of the family and family life and also the 
system of identical education for men and women. As 
man and woman have each a different highest function, 
they must have different education. The maintenance 
of the family must have as a natural corollary the educa- 
tion of the child by the parents. His entire education 
until seven years of age is under their exclusive con- 
trol, and his moral education is always to be a part 
of their duty. After seven the child's general educa- 
tion is to be public and controlled by the state. "What 
is the nature of that education? 

Aristotle asserted that man was made up of two 
parts, body and soul, and that soul was composed of an 
irrational element, i. e., appetites, desires and passions, 
and a rational element, i. e., intellect. Hence education 
has a threefold aspect, physical, moral, and mental. 
Formal school training should continue from seven to 
twenty-one and be divided into two periods by puberty. 
The first period should be devoted to the training of the 
irrational side of the soul and the second to the rational. 
Aristotle was essentially practical in his point of view 
and borrowed his content and method chiefly from the 
prevailing system at Athens. Physical training, to which 
attention was first given, was to be secured thru gym- 
nastics and to have as its aim not merely strength and 
grace of body, but the development of habits of control, 
of self-restraint. Moral education, i. e., the education 
of the irrational element of the soul, to which attention 
was next given, was to be attained thru literature 
and music. In moral training practice is always to pre- 

41 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

cede theory, doing the thing sought before reasoning 
about it. Then when habits of right feeling and acting 
have been generated, the individual must be taught the 
rational basis for them. Thus will goodness of charac- 
ter, which is based upon habituation and which is attain- 
able by all citizens, precede goodness of intellect, which 
results from the instruction of the rational element and 
is attainable only by the leisure class. "What the nature 
of instruction of the rational element would be we cannot 
exactly determine, as that part of the *' Politics" either 
was not written or was lost. But we judge from refer- 
ences in other parts that it would emphasize mathematics, 
the natural sciences, and dialectic. 

Influence of Aristotle. — Aristotle searched for truth in 
nature and society. He maintained that it was to be got 
thru observation of their phenomena confirmed by 
reflection. The practice of this inductive method made 
him the greatest scientific thinker that has ever lived, 
and he laid the foundation of the sciences of physics, 
mechanics, physiology, and politics. As a basis for 
thought in all these he developed his ' ' Organon, ' ' the sci- 
ence of the laws of thought, i. e., logic. Unfortunately 
for western Europe practically all his works except the 
*' Organon" were lost to it. Hence the Middle Ages, 
which revered his name, were controlled in intellectual 
life by his deductive logic, and deduction is a method of 
confirmation, not of discovery. This fact added to the 
emphasis which that period gave to authority and tradi- 
tion. But Mohammedanism, which was much influenced 
by his philosophy, brought it into western Europe via 
Spain. In the thirteenth century it was at first used 
by the schoolmen to justify existing beliefs, but its use 
led to an encouragement of reasoning dangerous to both 
authority and tradition. Upon his own time Aristotle 

42 



GREEK EDUCATION 

had no more influence than Plato. The day of the city- 
state, from which he drew his ideals, had passed, and 
with it went the old Hellenic ideal of the citizen-man. 
Man now existed for himself only, and social stability 
could be secured only by authority from without. 

RISE OF THE GREEK TTNIVERSITIES 

Triumph of Individualism. — Athens was ruined by 
excess of individualism. All efforts to control the tend- 
encies of the times proved futile and Aristotle's was the 
last attempt at a solution of the problem of the reconcili- 
ation of individual liberty with social stability. Phi- 
losophy, which had hitherto tried to formulate a practical 
ideal for social living, contented itself solely with the 
happiness of the individual. This is as true of the 
noblest Stoic as of the most sensual Epicurean. Edu- 
cation, which will always conform to a change of social 
and political ideals, now devoted itself to the develop- 
ment of the individual for personal happiness without 
reference to social relations. This was not accomplished 
without a struggle on the part of the finer spirits among 
the Greeks; however, it became a fact long before the 
Roman conquest. We shall now study that change. 

Course of Development of Greek Education After the 
Sophists. — The new education introduced by the Sophists 
started, two streams of influence which resulted in a re- 
organization of higher education. One flowed thru 
Socrates as a channel and resulted in the establishment 
of the philosophical schools. The other flowed thru 
Isocrates and resulted in the rhetorical schools. These 
two institutions became united in a loose manner in 
the course of time and to the institution thus formed 
the term ' ' University of Athens ' ' has been given by mod- 

43 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

em writers, tho this name was unknown to the ancients 
themselves. 

The Rhetorical Schools. — The more important of these 
two institutions was the rhetorical school. The work of 
the Sophists was of a desultory nature. Each Sophist 
was a free lance who taught without reference to the 
work of any other. Isocrates, who flourished in the gen- 
eration after Socrates, organized the work of the Sophists 

Sophists c. 425 B.C. 



Rhetorical Schools Philosophical Schools 





University of Athens, c. 200 B.C. 

into an orderly, well-graded system. In his school the 
student was taught the same subjects as in the schools 
of the Sophists, but he passed from subject to subject 
as the result of careful preparation. Isocrates main- 
tained that his aim was to enable a man to think clearly 
and express his thoughts properly, not merely to win in 
argument, as was the aim of many of the Sophists. His 
school was very successful, attracted many of the men 
who afterwards became leading statesmen, and served 
as a model for others. Its fame helped to make Athens 
the intellectual center of the ancient world. The sys- 
tem that grew up was very similar to the system of pri- 
vate schools and academies that has grown up in almost 

44 



GREEK EDUCATION 

all large American cities. The school aimed to prepare 
a man for the vigorous public life which characterized 
the Greek citizen in the fourth century B.C. As the 
interest which is exerted in public life today by news- 
paper, pulpit, bar, and platform was exerted then exclu- 
sively by the public speaker, the power of effective speech 
and the imparting of the knowledge of the day to make 
a successful man of the world were the ends sought. Tho 
at first rigorous and thoro, with the loss of political 
independence the work of these schools became more and 
more formal and stereotyped. Nevertheless, they flour- 
ished thruout the whole classical period. 

The Philosophical Schools. — In the century preceding 
the Macedonian conquest the very turmoil of public life 
which attracted the active spirits of the day repelled the 
more timid and contemplative. 

The emphasis placed by both Plato and Aristotle upon 
the speculative life in sequence to the practical life, as 
the highest attainment, was now placed upon the specu- 
lative life without reference to any practical consider- 
ation. Four great philosophical schools were founded 
in the fourth century, viz. : 

The School of the Academy, founded by Plato, 386 b.c. 

The School of the Lyceum, founded by Aristotle, 335 

B.C. 

The School of the Stoics, founded by Zeno, 308 B.C. 
The School of Epicurus, founded by Epicurus, 306 

B.C. 

These became less and less concerned with the affairs 
of practical life and developed into kinds of religious 
brotherhoods which absorbed much of the devotion that 
had formerly been given to the city state. The schools 
at first consisted merely of the master and his disciples. 
But when the founders of these schools died, they be- 

45 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

queathed their wealth and manuscripts to the schools 
and selected or arranged for the election of successors 
to the headship, called ' ' scholarchs. ' ' These endowments 
provided the bases for permanent institutions, ad- 
ditional income for the support of which was obtained 
by charging a fee for membership in the schools. The 
schools attracted adherents from all over the civilized 
world, many of whom upon coming to Athens found 
themselves unprepared to enter them. The result was 
that teachers engaged in preparing students for en- 
trance becEime associated with the schools. In most in- 
stances, after the death of the founder research and crea- 
tive work ceased. The aim became more and more to 
set forth the views of the founder ; and before the begin- 
ning of the Christian era the work had become as formal 
and artificial as that of the rhetorical schools. 

The University of Athens. — In the meantime great 
changes had taken place in the education of the Athenian 
youth. We have seen that, as a result of the emphasis 
placed upon intellectual education by the Sophists and 
of the trend towards individual self-seeking, the physical 
training in gymnastic and military drill looking towards 
service to the state began to lose its importance. The 
period of service was first reduced from two years to 
one ; and after the Macedonian conquest, when there was 
no longer an Athenian state to serve, attendance upon 
the gymnasium was made wholly voluntary. Admission 
to the ephebic corps was granted to foreigners and the 
corps became a kind of social institution with a military 
flavor. For the compulsory attendance formerly de- 
manded of the ephebes at the gymnasium there was now 
substituted compulsory attendance at the lectures of the 
philosophical schools in addition to voluntary attendance 
at the rhetorical schools. Finally when, because of the 

46 



GREEK EDUCATION 

danger due to the wars between Macedon and Rome, the 
schools of the Academy, the Lyceum, and Epicurus, 
which had been without the walls, followed the Stoics into 
the city, the Athenian Assembly granted public support 
to them and began to exercise a control over the selec- 
tion of the Sophists or professors. The union of the 
philosophical and rhetorical schools became more pro- 
nounced as the result of the practice of the early Roman 
emperors of endowing chairs of rhetoric and of philoso- 
phy. The years of attendance of a student were pro- 
longed often to six or seven ; and student life resembled 
college life today, especially in its extra-scholastic fea- 
tures. The University of Athens remained the stronghold 
of paganism after the advent of Christianity, and its de- 
cline was rapid after Constantine made Christianity the 
state religion. Finally, in 529 a.d., it was suppressed 
by Justinian. 

The TTniversity of Alexandria. — The University of 
Athens was not the only Greek university of the ancient 
world. As the result of the conquests of Alexander, 
Greek civilization spread thruout the East; and tho it 
was most apparent in its externals, such as temples, thea- 
ters, and baths, the Greek language and Greek culture 
conquered the minds of men more effectually than their 
arms had conquered governments. Greek universities 
arose at Rhodes, Pergamus, Tarsus, and Alexandria ; but 
of these only the University of Alexandria competed in 
influence and prestige with that of Athens. The first 
three Ptolemies were enlightened statesmen who did 
much for the advancement of learning. They instituted 
a movement for the collection of manuscripts such as 
has never been equaled in history except possibly dur- 
ing the Renaissance. As a result there was founded at 
Alexandria in 280 b.c. the library which was destined 

47 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

to become the greatest in the ancient world : according to 
some accounts, it contained at one time more than 
700,000 ' ' rolls ' ' of manuscripts ; and parts at least of it 
survived until Alexandria was captured by the Moham- 
medans in 640 A.D. This library attracted scholars 
from all countries. At about the same time the mu- 
seum was founded, an institution resembling the great 
scientific research institutions of today; and investiga- 
tors from all over the world were invited to study there 
at the expense of the king. Much of the work of Euclid in 
geometry, Archimedes in physics, and Eratosthenes in 
geography and astronomy was done there. The Ptole- 
mies also endowed numerous chairs of rhetoric and of 
philosophy which, with the library and museum, formed 
the university. Tho in its earlier period it was renowned 
chiefly for science, in the later period, especially after 
Christianity became a force, it was the center for phil- 
osophical speculation. This naturally resulted from its 
being the meeting place of Greeks, Jews, Egyptians, 
and scholars from the Orient. Here the Hebrew scrip- 
tures were translated into Greek (the Septuagint) c. 
250 B.C. ; here Philo the Jew attempted to harmonize the 
Hebrew scriptures with Greek philosophy ; here the early 
Christian Fathers established their great ''Catechetical 
School ' ' ; and here most of the heresies that rent the new 
religion were developed. Nevertheless, in this later 
period most of the work, especially in grammar, rhetoric, 
and literature, was formal and artificial ; and in philoso- 
phy it consisted of fruitless commentary. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Articles on Greek Education, Sophists, Socrates, Isocrates, 
Plato, Aristotle, Athens, and Alexandria in the Cyclopedia of 
Education. 

48 



GREEK EDUCATION 

CuBBERLET, E. P. Syllabus in the History of Education. 
Chap. IX. 

Davidson^ T. Education of the Greek People. 

. Aristotle and the Ancient Educational Ideals. 

Drever^ James. Greek Education. 

Graves, F. P. A History of Education. Vol. I, Chap. XII. 

Grote, G. History of Greece. Chapters LXVII, LXVIII. 

Laurie, S. S. Pre-Christian Education. The Hellenic Race. 

Mahaffy, J. P. Old Greek Education. 

Monroe, P. Textbook in the History of Education. Chap. 
III. 

Walden, J. H. W. Universities of Ancient Greece. 

QUESTIONS, COMPARISONS, AND TOPICS FOR 
FURTHER STUDY 

1. What was Socrates* error in his statement that "to 
know the right is to do the right"? 

2. What better methods are used in education today than 
the Socratic quiz for the development of concepts or "whole- 
thoughts"? 

3. Compare the state control of marriage in Plato's "Re- 
public" with that suggested by modem eugenists. 

4. Compare the selective process to determine one's life 
work suggested in the "Republic" with the modern principle 
of vocational guidance. 

5. Does the view of women's education held today conform 
more closely to the view of Plato or Aristotle? 

6. In what respect did Aristotle advocate the modem 
principle of "learn to know by doing"? 

7. In what respects does the multiplication of religious 
sects today resemble the founding of philosophical schools 
among the Greeks? 

8. Compare the development of the University of Athens 
with that of an American university like Columbia. 

9. How did the rhetorical schools among the Greeks 
resemble the academies of our countiy? 

49 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION || 

A ^f thP use of the Greek language 
10. Con^pare the J-J f ^^^ :^^\, ,,e of French in 

after the conquests of Alexander wit 

the eighteenth and '^-f ^^^eWian King Ptolen^y with 

''• .''rfw clrl Set "he aTa^eement of learning, 
that of Andrew tamegie lu 



CHAPTER V 
ROMAN EDUCATION 

Outline. — The mission of the Romans was to organize in- 
stitutions whereby the ideals of the other peoples might be 
realized. The Jew furnished Western civilization with its 
religious ideal; the Roman organized it into an institution 
which saved Europe from barbarism. The Greek furnished 
the ideal of justice; the Roman made it concrete in a system 
of law upon which European civilization is today founded. 

Previous to contact with the Greeks the Romans gave their 
boys a practical and civic education. This was done infor- 
mally by means of the activities of the family, the forum, 
and the camp. After assimilating Greek culture, the Romans 
organized their education into: (1) elementary, given in the 
school of the litter ator; (2) secondary, given in the school of 
the grammaticus; and (3) higher, given in the school of the 
rhetor. A young Roman might afterward attend a university. 

Contributions of Rome to Western Civilization. — The 
Romans had the greatest genius for organization and 
administration of any historic people. Intensely prac- 
tical and without high ideals, their mission in history 
was to organize institutions whereby the ideals of other 
peoples might be realized. If from the Jew we have 
received our religious ideal, it was the Roman who organ- 
ized it into an institution which saved Europe from bar- 
barism. If the Greek furnished the ideal of justice, the 
Roman made it concrete in a system of law upon which 
European civilization is founded today. The universal 

51 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

empire organized by Rome was the instrument by which 
Greek art, literature, science, and philosophy were 
spread among all peoples. 

The Eoman View of Life. — The Roman ^s point of view 
was objective, never subjective. He was impatient of 
abstraction and dealt only with the concrete. He meas- 
ured the value of everything by the utilitarian stand- 
ard of results. Every relation of life was to be organ- 
ized on practical principles. Even religion, which dis- 
closes man's highest aspiration, was with the Roman 
chiefly a bargaining with the gods, a practical device for 
everyday living. He was essentially a doer, not a 
thinker nor a man of emotion. He represents chiefly 
the life of the will as the Greek represents chiefly the life 
of the intellect and feelings. He lived for his state and 
was never able to think of the man as separate from the 
citizen. He solved the problem of the reconciliation of 
individual liberty with social security by emphasizing 
state control. But the surrender of the individual to the 
state was voluntary, not compulsory. 

Institutions of Rome Which Educated. — 1. The Fam- 
ily. — The very basis of Roman life was the family. In 
it the mother occupied as honorable a position as the 
father and woman's place in Roman life was far higher 
and more influential than among the Greeks. Unlike 
the Greek male, the Roman lived much at home; the 
hearth was his most sacred spot. All members of the 
family were strongly bound together and, while the 
Greek tried to make his son independent as soon as pos- 
sible, the Roman's control of the members of his family 
ceased only with death. The influence of this family 
life upon the development of character cannot be over- 
estimated. 

2. The Camp. — The Roman was always at war and 

52 



ROMAN EDUCATION 

the first duty of a father was to prepare his son to take 
part in war. This was not an academic training in a 
gymnasium as with the Greeks. The Romans never had 
gymnasia. The father taught his son to ride, swim, and 
use the spear; and when the boy reached the age of 
manhood (sixteen), he learned the use of arms in the 
camp itself. When not engaged on the farm he was to 
be found in the camp. 

3. The Forum, — Thruout the republican period the 
forum exercised a great educative influence upon the 
Roman youth. It was there he heard the ideals and 
duties of the citizen set forth. Unlike the Athenian 
youth, he heard no discussions on abstract questions of 
life, morals, law, or politics, but the concrete problems 
before the state. And it is to be noted that in the early 
period all free Romans participated in this life; for 
until the great conquests glutted the market with slaves, 
manual labor in agriculture was not despised. 

4. Religion, — With the Romans religion was a differ- 
ent thing from that of the Greeks. Their gods did not 
have human attributes and wish to be housed in beauti- 
ful temples and placated thru such joyous activities as 
dancing and singing. Religion had no influence upon 
the esthetic or intellectual life of the people. There was 
a god for every human activity, mysterious, stern, and 
inexorable, demanding his tribute of sacrifice. But these 
impersonal deities, at least until they were identified 
with the gods of the Greeks, did not exemplify human 
weaknesses and had a distinctly ethical influence. The 
sense of duty, not beauty, was developed by the Roman 
religion. 

Periods of Roman Education. — The social and educa- 
tional history of Rome falls into two periods. Tho no 
date can be set as marking the division of the two 

53 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

periods, for convenience the line may be drawn at 146 
B.C., when Greece was conquered and made a Roman 
province. In the earlier period Roman life was as de- 
scribed above and education was controlled by Roman 
ideals and methods. Before the close of that period, as 
the result of the conquest of southern Italy, Roman life 
had become influenced by contact with the Greeks. In 
the second period Rome took over Greek culture nearly 
in totOy and the content and form of education, tho not 
its ideals, were Hellenized. We shall now consider the 
education of the first period. 

A. EARLY ROMAN EDUCATION 

The aim of Roman education was to produce a loyal 
Roman prepared for the practical duties of life. It 
was an affair entirely of the family, in which the father 
trained his son for the duties of the man and citizen, and 
the mother trained the daughter for the duties of the 
woman and housekeeper. As in all systems of family 
education the emphasis was upon the moral side of life, 
upon the development of character. The result was that 
the Roman was distinguished by the homelier and sterner 
virtues : piety, manliness, courage, gravity, honesty, pru- 
dence. Associated with this moral training was a physi- 
cal training to produce a hardy man and soldier. But 
the physical exercises of the Roman boy were never 
organized into a system and given in an institution, as 
with the Greeks; and to have aimed at beauty of form 
and grace of action would have been considered effemi- 
nate. The intellectual element in Roman education was 
small. The boy was taught to read, write, and count 
by his father. Biography had a most important place, 
and the stories of the lives of the heroes who had served 

54 



ROMAN EDUCATION 

Rome reinforced the work of the home in developing 
the Roman character. The Laws of the Twelve Tables, 
the fundamental legal code, had to be memorized by 
every Roman boy; but the influence upon him was not 
comparable to that of Homer on the Greek boy. Except 
for the Twelve Tables no literary element, and, except 
for the national songs and religious hymns, no musical 
element appeared in this education. Art, science, and 
philosophy were unknown ; culture for its own sake was 
scorned. 

The method of Roman education was direct imitation — 
first of the father, then of the hero. The Greek believed 
in placing the boy in an environment of beauty, refine- 
ment, and culture in word, deed, and object, and relied 
upon the assimilative power of the mind to assist towards 
the desired end. The Roman believed that the only way 
to learn any activity was to do it in imitation of a con- 
crete model and to do it often enough to form a habit. 
When that was accomplished the end was attained. To 
instruct afterwards in the rational basis of habits never 
occurred to them. 

The Period of Transition. — Such was the education of 
the Roman boy during the first period. But long before 
the date set for the closing of that period a change had 
begun to take place. Quite early in the period the ludus, 
a primary school, arose, to which some Romans sent 
their boys to learn reading, writing, and counting. In 
no wise was the emphasis upon family training lessened, 
for it was only these formal subjects that were learned 
in these private schools and not the habits and duties 
of the man and citizen. But this education sufficed only 
so long as Rome remained a local community. When it 
had conquered the whole of Italy and come in contact 
with alien and superior civilizations, a broader culture 

55 



THE HISTOEY OF EDUCATION 

was essential. But the change was a very slow one. 
Livius Andronicus, a Greek slave from southern Italy, 
opened one of the first schools of a higher grade than 
the ludus. As Latin literature had hardly begun, he 
translated the Odyssey into Latin, c. 250 B.C., and 
thereafter that was the textbook in reading and litera- 
ture for the Roman boy. Other Greeks followed his 
example and opened schools in which a knowledge of 
Greek literature by means of translations and an ele- 
mentary knowledge of the Greek language were im- 
parted. Gradually these translations — and eventually 
Greek literature itself — supplanted the memorizing of 
the Laws of the Twelve Tables as the intellectual element 
in the Roman boy's education. But these schools were 
all private undertakings without any generally accepted 
system of work, and they were attended by only a few 
of the youths of the upper classes. 

B. THE HELLENIZED ROMAN EDUCATION 

Absorption of Greek Culture by the Romans. — After 
the conquest of Greece by the Romans, 146 B.C., a de- 
light in things Greek spread thruout Roman society. 
The conquerors had robbed Greece of many of her treas- 
ures in books and art and brought them to Rome. Greek 
teachers of grammar, rhetoric, and even philosophy emi- 
grated in large numbers to the metropolis to open 
schools. In all history there is no instance of a more 
complete imitation of the culture of one people by an- 
other than that of the Greek by the Romans. They 
borrowed Greek religion, philosophy, art, and literature 
— at least in form. Naturally they borrowed the system 
of education upon which all this culture was based, but 
in doing so they organized it into a system superior to 

56 



ROMAN EDUCATION 

that of the Greeks. It must always be remembered, how- 
ever, that this assimilation was a slow process, due to the 
strong conservatism of the Roman character and the 
active opposition of many influential men. Unlike the 
rapid conquest made by the Sophistic education in 
Athens or by scientific education in our own country, 
the movement required a century to complete its work. 
The publication of Cicero's book, *'De Oratore," 55 
B.C., marks fairly well its final triumph. The system 
of education as then organized remained with few modi- 
fications until the close of the empire. 

The following diagram is a graphic statement of the 
Roman system of education : 

Period of Education School Age 

1. Elementary Litterator 7-10 

2. Secondary Grammaticus ■ • to 16 

3. Higher Ehetor 16 on 
The Elementary School. — The school of the litterator, 

i. e., teacher of letters, was the old Indus, to which the 
Roman boy was now sent to acquire the elements of 
learning, usually in charge of a pedagogue, as at Athens. 
Like all Roman schools of the republican and early im- 
perial periods, it was a private institution opened in a 
room of a building or held even on a porch. As no 
qualifications for teaching were demanded, it was usually 
presided over by a freedman who was poorly paid and 
had a low social standing. The equipment was poor and 
the teaching probably of the same quality. Reading, 
writing, and counting were taught by the same methods 
as in the Greek schools ; and as soon as the boy could 
read fairly well he was sent to a grammar school. No 
Greeks taught these primary schools ; and many Roman 
boys never went to them, but received their elementary 
training from a tutor at home. 

57 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

The Grammar School. — The school of the grammaticus 
was so called because, as with us, grammar was the chief 
subject of study. But grammar had a much wider sig- 




ScHooL Materials from Waljl Paintings 

A — Wax tablet and capra, containing rolls or books. B — Wax 

tablet with stilus tied to it 




Punishment 
From a painting at Herculaneum 

nificance than with us. It included the study of litera- 
ture as well as language, and these schools were par ex- 

58 



KOMAN EDUCATION 

« 
cellence literary schools. At first they were maintained 

wholly by Greeks, who devoted themselves almost exclu- 
sively to giving instruction in the Greek language and 
literature ; but about 100 B.C. Lucius ^lius Stilo opened 
a Latin grammar school, and from'tEat time it was cus- 
tomary for the Roman boy to attend both. Reading, 
composition, and grammar formed the curriculum: 
grammar meant the study of the form and content of all 
Greek and Latin literature, didactic and artistic ; so be- 
sides poetry it included geography, history, some mathe- 
matics and natural sciences, music, and mythology. As 
to content, probably for the most part these subjects 
were superficially studied. Minute attention was given 
to the form of Greek and Latin writers as models for 
correctness of expression in writing and speaking. Quin- 
tilian considered the power of imitation and memory 
as the most critical evidences of ability in a prospective 
orator. Homer always remained the chief author to be 
studied in the Greek grammar school, and in the im- 
perial period Virgil was the chief author to be studied 
in the Latin grammar school ; but selections from a wide 
range of authors were used in both schools. Two sub- 
jects were not introduced from the Greek schools, viz., 
dancing and gymnastics. 

The method of teaching was by explanation and dic- 
tation, the method of study was chiefly the memoriter. 
The aim was to give a mastery of expression in reading, 
writing, and speaking to prepare the boy for the work of 
the rhetorical schools. These grammar schools were well- 
equipped institutions like those of Greece, and the teach- 
ers received good incomes and had a good social stand- 
ing. The discipline of all the Roman schools was severe, 
the rod being used freely. The school day was long, 
from early morning until late afternoon. But, in Italy 

59 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

at least, there was a summer vacation from about June 
first until October first. Moreover, the Saturnalia cor- 
responded to our Christmas vacation, the feast of Min- 
erva to our Easter vacation, and there were no school 
sessions on many festival days. 

The Rhetorical School. — When he completed the gram- 
mar school, at about the age of assuming the toga virilis 
(the dress of a man), the education of the Eoman boy 
ended, unless he was destined for a public career. If 
that was so, he entered the school of the rhetor and 
remained there for a period depending upon his ability 
and interests, probably in most cases about three years. 
The rhetorical schools were much more slowly established 
than the grammar schools and became numerous only 
about the beginning of the imperial period. At first 
there were only Greek rhetorical schools; but during 
the first century b.c. Latin rhetorical schools were 
established, and in course of time superseded the Greek 
in importance, appealing as they did to a much wider 
constituency. In the late republican and early imperial 
periods it became customary among the higher classes 
to send youths to Greece for their rhetorical training. 

Aim, Content, and Method of Work. — The aim of the 
rhetorical school was to prepare the individual for the 
life of public affairs. During the republican and early 
imperial periods, before freedom disappeared, this train- 
ing for service to society was vigorous and effective. 
With the Roman the orator was the well-educated man. 
Therefore, tho the work of the rhetorical school was 
chiefly devoted to the arts of speech — rhetoric, declama- 
tion, and debate — yet, if we are to believe Quintilian, 
literary criticism, dialectic, music, geometry, astronomy, 
politics, and ethics were carefully taught. The method 
of work was first learning to declaim model selections; 

60 



ROMAN EDUCATION 

then participating in debate ; and then, after attendance 
upon lectures, writing orations according to certain 
types. Many of the subjects taken for declamation, de- 
bate, and oration were on subtle points of Roman law 
which developed ability in making fine distinctions. But 
in the imperial period they were usually set in highly 
imaginary conditions, taken from mythology or history, 
and very remote from the actual life of the day. 

Higher Education. — At first a Roman desirous of a 
more liberal education went to one of the Greek uni- 
versities, and that practice never entirely died out. But 
libraries grew rapidly in Rome in the Augustan era ; and 
when Vespasian about a.d. 75 established a great 
library in the Temple of Peace, the foundation of a 
university was laid. The history of the University of 
Alexandria was repeated. Professorships in the liberal 
arts were established in connection with the library by 
successive emperors and finally Hadrian, about 125 
A.D., organized it into the Atheneum. Schools of law, 
medicine, architecture, and mechanics were developed 
gradually — the old method of study in those subjects 
by apprenticeship to an eminent practitioner being su- 
perseded, as with us, by formal work in the schools. Lit- 
tle work was done in philosophical speculation or in 
scientific research, both of which were foreign to the 
Roman temperament. This, moreover, was the only 
Roman university, for Marseilles, where was situated 
the only other university in the West, remained to the 
end a Greek city. 

Public Support of Schools. — It must be remembered 
that these various classes of schools grew up wholly 
under private auspices without either government super- 
vision or government support. So extensively did these 
schools spread that by the time of Marcus Aurelius there 

61 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

was practically no provincial town without its grammar 
school nor provincial capital without its rhetorical school. 
Vespasian inaugurated the practice of paying the sal- 
aries of selected teachers of grammar and rhetoric and 
his successors extended it. Finally Antoninus Pius, c. 
150, awarded to some teachers of grammar, rhetoric, and 
philosophy many of the privileges of the senatorial class, 
especially exemptions from taxation and military serv- 
ice. These became the foundation of the privileges of the 
clergy, when the empire became Christian under Con- 
stantine, c. a.d. 326. In 376 Gratian established a fixed 
schedule of salaries for teachers thruout the empire. 
In 361 Julian had asserted the right of the em- 
peror to pass upon all appointments made by the munic- 
ipal governments. In 425 the establishment of schools 
was made an exclusive privilege of the state. But just 
when the imperial government might have developed a 
national system of education, the invasions of the bar- 
barians put an end to the schools and the empire as well. 
Decay of Koman Society. — The overthrow of the em- 
pire was not a difficult undertaking, for the government 
had become a mere shell. From the beginning of the 
third century it was a pure despotism. All pretense of 
maintaining the old practices of the republic was given 
up. Oriental forms of servility, including prostration 
before the emperor, became prevalent. The imperial 
court was large, luxurious, immoral, and servile. All 
power was centered in the emperor and in the bureau- 
cracy, which had become exceedinglj^ numerous and 
costly. The senatorial class, entrance to which was 
obtained by favoritism or bribery, had immense privi- 
leges and few corresponding obligations. There was no 
outlet for the abilities of senators in the state, and they 
shunned the army filled with barbarians. They led a 

62 



ROMAN EDUCATION 

life of luxurious ease — at best one of cultured leisure, 
at worst one of debauchery — wholly without interest 
either in the affairs of the state or of their wretched 
fellow men about them. The other free citizens, the curi- 
ales, had to bear the burdens of the army and the gov- 
ernment. As the result of plague, infanticide, and im- 
morality, there was a constantly diminishing popula- 
tion and a corresponding decrease in ability to support 
the . defenses against the barbarians. The Roman Em- 
pire fell because of lack of men and money. The slave 
class, enormously increased by the successive wars, was 
still further augmented from the ranks of the freemen, 
many of whom voluntarily entered slavery to escape 
the obligations of Roman citizenship. 

Decline of Education. — As stated before, whenever 
there is a change in social ideals and social life, there 
is sure to be a corresponding change in education. In 
this period of decline education became more and more a 
privilege of the senatorial class. It no longer aimed to 
prepare for the practical duties of a man of affairs, and 
became more and more a culture education to enable a 
man to shine in society. A desire for perfection of form, 
without reference to the real meaning and content of 
things, animated the school. With such a view of life 
and such an aim of education the period was naturally 
one of sterility. After Marcus Aurelius, d. a.d. 180^ 
no writer, artist, or philosopher of the first rank ap- 
peared, and but a negligible number of second rank. 
No pagan authors of this period had any influence on 
later times, save a few writers on technical subjects, like 
the grammarians Donatus, c. a.d. 400, and Priscian, c. 
A.D. 500, whose grammars were used during the Mid- 
dle Ages. Hence the schools of grammar devoted them- 
selves to a study of the old classics, especially Yirgil 

63 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

and Horace; no longer, however, for inspiration and lit- 
erary appreciation, but solely for style, diction, and apt 
quotation. Similarly, as oratory was no longer to be 
used in the practical affairs of life, content was of no 
importance and form became everything. Hence to ac- 
quire a big vocabulary, a florid style, a bombastic speech 
was the aim of students in the schools of rhetoric. As 
orations were no longer delivered in the senate or forum, 
the orator or rhetorician took refuge in the home or 
theater, where he gave exhibitions to which the cultured 
flocked as they attend musicales today. Philosophy was 
no longer taught in any of the schools of the West, and 
law in but few of them. The schools of grammar and 
rhetoric flourished to the end. Their teachers remained 
honored and well paid, but their debased culture without 
the liberalizing virtues of the Greek education or the 
practical virtues of the Roman did not have any influ- 
ence in a period of stress and storm. 

Eoman Writers on Education. — As we have seen, the 
Roman, unlike the Greek, did not speculate on the aim 
of life or the meaning of education. To him education 
meant merely a practical preparation for practical life ; 
hence, as we should expect, any treatise on education by 
a Roman is largely an exposition of current practice. 
Our information concerning Roman education is ob- 
tained chiefly from Cicero's *'De Oratore," Tacitus' ''De 
Oratoribus," Suetonius' **De Gramma ticis" and *'De 
Rhetoricis," and particularly Quintilian's "De Institu- 
tione Oratoria" (''Institutes of Oratory"). Of these, 
however, only Quintilian gives an exposition of the en- 
tire field of education. Such problems as the relative 
advantages of tutorial and school training, discipline, 
interest, memory training, adaptation to temperament, 
and qualifications of the teacher are considered in the 

64 



ROMAN EDUCATION 

twelve books of his great work. But it is chiefly 
devoted to a consideration of literary values and 
methods of teaching subjects, from the alphabet to 
oratory, his suggestions in method conforming in 
many instances to the most approved of the present 
day. Tho a Spaniard by birth, for twenty years 
he was Rome's most distinguished teacher of rhet- 
oric, and he wrote his treatise only after he had retired 
from active service, a.d. 96. He was highly esteemed 
by his contemporaries and was the first teacher of rhet- 
oric to be subsidized by Vespasian. His treatise had 
a great influence upon the schools until the fall of the 
empire, and it was of much service to the humanists after 
its discovery in the early Renaissance. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Articles in Cyclopedia of Education on Roman Education, 
Andronicus, Quintilian, etc. 

Clarke, Geo. Education of Children at Rome. 

CuBBERLEY_, E. P. Syllabus in History of Education. Chap. 
X. 

Graves, F. P. A History of Education. Vol. I. Chap. 
XIII. 

Laurie, S. S. Pre-Christian Education. The Romans. 

Mahaffy, J. P. Greek World under Roman Sway. 

Monroe, Paul. Textbook in the History of Education. 
Chap. IV. 

QUESTIONS, COMPARISONS, AND TOPICS FOR 
FURTHER STUDY 

1. What reasons are there why biography plays so dif- 
ferent a part in the education of the Roman and of the 
American boy? 

2. In what period of our national life did the education 

65 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

of the American boy resemble that of the early Romans? 
What influences have brought about the change? 

3. In what period of our national life did public speech 
play as important a part as with the Romans of the repub- 
lican period? Why does it not play so important a part 
today? 

4. The Roman began the study of Greek in early child- 
hood. In the American public school the pupil begins foreign 
languages in the high schools. Which practice is based upon 
sound principles of education? 

5. The Roman emphasized secondary education; we em- 
phasize elementary education. Why? 

6. In the aim and organization of education does our sys- 
tem resemble the Greek or the Roman? 

7. Compare the " Wander jahr" of the Germans with the 
Roman practice of sending boys abroad to Greek schools. 

8. Compare the imitation of Greek culture by the Romans 
with that of Western culture by the Japanese in aim, content, 
and method. 

9. The average Roman completed his work in the rhetorical 
school at about nineteen or twenty years of age. Why do 
American students require two or three years more? 

10. Compare the curriculum of a rhetorical school as out- 
lined by Quintilian with that of an American college. 

11. Is there any evidence that the practice of the Roman 
emperors in subsidizing rhetoricians was for the purpose of 
controlling their freedom of speech? 

12. The statement is often made that America needs a 
"leisure" class. The senatorial class fomied the Roman 
leisure class. Do social conditions today justify the belief 
that such a class would take a different attitude towards social 
living? 

13. Compare the attitude towards foreigners of the Roman 
of the imperial period with that of Americans today. 

14. Which of the great culture nations of today have 
not based their jurisprudence upon Roman law? Why? 



CHAPTER VI 

EARLY CHRISTIAN EDUCATION 

Outline. — Christianity sought the moral regeneration of the 
individual and thereby of society, hence at first it gave its 
adherents a wholly moral and religious education in the 
catechumenal school. 

Later, when it spread among the upper classes, it gave a 
higher education in the catechetical schools, which became 
seminaries for the training of priests. Attached to the bishop's 
church there also developed cathedral schools, which became 
one of the chief instruments of the Church in which to train 
leaders of the faithful. 

How the Way Was Prepared for the Spread of Chris- 
tianity. — After the establishment of the empire, Rome 
imposed upon the civilized world the pax Bomana, the 
Roman peace. This permitted missionary work upon 
the part of the early Christians which would otherwise 
have been impossible. The necessity of governing all 
the different nations and peoples resulted in the develop- 
ment of the Jus Gentiumi (Law of Nations), which 
consisted of those principles of law common to all na- 
tions. This prepared the minds of men for the idea of 
a moral law common to all men and binding upon all, 
bond or free, rich or poor, learned or ignorant. The 
filling of the Roman armies with men of all nations, 
the gradual extension of Roman citizenship to men of 
all nations, the knowledge that they were controlled by 
a common law resulted in the gradual development in 

67 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

the minds of the best, especially among the Stoic phi- 
losophers, of the idea of a genus humanum, a human 
kind, i. e., that despite racial differences man is essen- 
tially the same. This prepared the way for the Christian 
teaching that all men are the children of one Father, 
hence are brethren, and that among His children. He 
makes no allowance for distinctions of birth, wealth, or 
learning. Moreover, Christianity appeared at a time 
when the world was weary of itself, when men were con- 
vinced of sin, when there was a vain striving to dis- 
cover a moral support not afforded by the pagan relig- 
ions or even the pagan philosophies. A great vitalizing 
force was needed not only in the West, but even more 
in the East, where life and education as typified by 
Israel had become incrusted with a narrow and dogmatic 
formalism. This vitalizing force appeared in the person 
of Jesus Christ, a product of the Jewish family life, 
of the synagogue, and of the rabbinical school. But 
the founder of Christianity reacted forcibly against 
institutional suppression of the individual. 

The Christian View of the Relation of the Individual 
to Society. — The Greco-Romans never distinguished be- 
tween the man and the citizen. The only virtues they 
valued were civic, were in some form of service to the 
state. The idea of personality, of a human soul valuable 
in itself and worthy of development for itself, with such 
attendant iadividual virtues as charity, sympathy, or 
self-sacrifice for one's fellow men, found little place in 
their thought. The very appeal that Christianity made 
to what was common in all men implied that national 
liaes of cleavage were artificial. The denial of the exist- 
ence of national gods would inevitably bring Christian- 
ity into conflict with the state. The belief in the exist- 
ence of a future state and the belief that earthly exist- 

68 



EARLY CHRISTIAN EDUCATION 

ence was but a preparation for it, the belief in the early 
return of the Master and the passing away of the world 
suggested the contemning of earthly interests and pleas- 
ures in consideration of a state of eternal salvation. 
Hence the ' ' otherworldly ' ' ideal of the early Christians ; 
hence their adherence to the institution which embodied 
it after their religion became organized, viz., the Church ; 
hence the withdrawal of many of the best from the con- 
sideration of mundane affairs. This was the very re- 
verse of the pagan viewpoint. The pagan lived for this 
world, found his happiness in it, and expected to live 
in no other. The problem of the reconciliation of indi- 
vidual freedom with social stability did not assume a 
great importance to one whose gaze was fixed upon an- 
other sphere and another life. 

Christianity a Moral Discipline. — Christianity sought 
the moral regeneration of the individual and thereby of 
society. Personal purity was the first essential for en- 
trance to the fold. To appreciate the magnitude of the 
task of the early Church, it is necessary to remember the 
debased condition of Roman society. Infanticide and 
child exposure, practiced by all classes, were to the Chris- 
tian simple murder. The ease of vice, the immoral pub- 
lic ceremonials under the guise of religion, the bloody 
gladiatorial displays were dreadful abominations. Even 
before the tremendous task of overcoming these evils 
had been accomplished, another great work confronted 
the Church, viz., the conversion of the barbarians in 
order to save the faith and civilization itself. It may 
well be asked, ''How much energy remained to be de- 
voted to education and culture?" Moreover, to the 
Christian there was no reason for saving the pagan 
culture. Its literature was full of impurities, its art 
associated with its immoral religion, its philosophy de- 

69 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

voted to destroying the faith. As the school was the 
stronghold of the pagan culture, it gradually became re- 
garded as the enemy of the Church and its work anath- 
ema to the true believer. Hence the development of an 
education in which what the pagan approved — viz., bod- 
ily training, literature, art, science and philosophy — 
were omitted, and what the pagan neglected, moral train- 
ing and religious instruction, were emphasized. 

The Catechumenal School. — But this point of view did 
not prevail at once. 

The teaching that this life is but a preparation for 
another and eternal life in which rewards and punish- 
ments will be meted out according to conduct on earth, 
brought hope and inspiration to the millions of slaves 
and unfortunates who were neglected and subjected un- 
der the pagan civilization. It was among these that 
Christianity won its adherents during the first centuries. 
They had no education, did not feel the need of it, and 
in fact regarded with unfavorable eyes what chiefly 
distinguished their masters and persecutors from them- 
selves — the pagan culture. But some instruction was 
necessary for entrance to Church membership for the 
converts from Judaism and paganism, as well as for 
the children of believers. Hence at stated intervals 
during the week these met in some part of the church 
for religious instruction, moral training, and the learn- 
ing of psalmody. The teachers were at first the ablest 
members of the local church, and the office became a cleri- 
cal one only after considerable time had elapsed. At 
first the period of instruction necessary for baptism was 
two years, but as the children of believers became numer- 
ous it was extended to four. These catechumenal schools 
became universal among the Christians, and lasted long 
after Christianity had vanquished paganism. 

70 



EARLY CHRISTIAN EDUCATION 

The Catechetical School. — For more than two centuries 
the catechumenal schools supplied most of the educa- 
tional needs of the Christians. During that time, how- 
ever, Christianity had begun to spread among the seri- 
ous-minded of the well-to-do pagans, who wished a higher 
education for their sons. The latter had been sent to the 
pagan grammar and even the pagan rhetorical schools, 
their parents relying upon rigid home training to over- 
come any evil that might result from the association with 
pagan influences. But towards the end of the second 
century and thereafter Christianity made converts 
among the teaching class, among grammarians, rhe- 
toricians, and even philosophers. These men naturally 
brought with them their learning and their love of 
learning. Moreover, as long as Christianity remained 
the religion of the poor and ignorant, it was treated 
by the learned merely with contempt. When it began, 
however, to make headway in their own ranks its doc- 
trines as well as its practices began to be attacked. To 
defend these doctrines an education different from that 
of the catechumenal schools was necessary. Hence some 
of the converted teachers opened schools for the Chris- 
tian youth. At first these were wholly private and un- 
connected with the Church. But in 179 Pantaenus, a 
converted Stoic philosopher, became head of the school 
for catechumens at Alexandria. He was one of the 
' ' Apologists, ' ' as those who attempted to reconcile Chris- 
tianity with Greek philosophy were called. Under him, 
and particularly under his eminent successors, Clement 
(c. 160-215) and Origen (c. 185-254), this school, which 
was called catechetical, meaning ''to teach orally," i. e., 
to lecture, developed into an institution where the entire 
round of the Greco-Roman learning was taught. Gram- 
mar, literature, rhetoric, and philosophy were studied as 

71 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

thoroly as in the pagan schools, tho always as the hand- 
maidens of the Scriptures ; and the students took advan- 
tage of the opportunities for study offered by the Uni- 
versity of Alexandria. At first scholars from all classes 
were admitted to the schools ; but gradually they devel- 
oped into a kind of seminary for the training of the 
clergy. Similar institutions, tho not so celebrated, were 
established at Caesarea, Antioch, Edessa, and Nisibis. 

The Church Fathers. — By the beginning of the fourth 
century the era of persecution was closed. Christianity 
was legally tolerated a.d. 313, and soon afterwards 
became the state religion. The Church had conquered 
the world, but in the conquest its adherents had lost 
much of the purity and simplicity of the early Chris- 
tians. It now paid to be a Christian, and numerous 
adherents of the faith were but nominally so. During 
the first three centuries the attitude of the Greek 
Church Fathers had been uniformly friendly to the 
study of the pagan culture. Clement and Origen were 
enthusiastic in its advocacy, maintaining that the pagan 
culture contributed to an understanding of the Scrip- 
tures and that it was justifiable and wise "to spoil the 
Egyptians.'' Even when this enthusiasm waned and 
a more critical attitude was adopted towards the pagan 
learning, such eminent Fathers as Basil (331-379) and 
Gregory of Nazianzus (c. 325-390) protested against its 
exclusion from the Christian schools. The attitude of 
the Latin Church Fathers had always been more un- 
friendly. It was the moral grandeur of Christianity that 
especially appealed to the Romans, and the Latin 
Fathers felt that the great mission of the Church was 
ethical. Moreover, the application of Greek philosophy 
to Christian doctrine had resulted in numerous heresies 
in the East. The native conservatism of the Roman 

72 



EARLY CHRISTIAN EDUCATION 

would incline him to the traditional element in the faith, 
and his practical insight would suggest most forcibly 
the danger to morals in the study of the classical litera- 
ture. Hence, despite the fact that they had all been 
teachers and were steeped in the pagan culture, Ter- 
tullian (c. 150-230), Jerome (331-423), and Augustine 
(354-430) eventually discountenanced such study 
among the faithful. It was probably due to Augus- 
tine's influence that the Council of Carthage (401) for- 
bade the clergy to read any of the pagan literature. 
The Church thereby broke with humanism. This de- 
cree was contemporaneous with the invasion of the 
barbarians and the rapid disappearance of the pagan 
schools. 

Cathedral Schools. — Christianity spread primarily in 
the cities ; when the Church had grown in numbers and 
strength and was organized into dioceses, the chief cities 
became the sees or seats of bishops and also the sites of 
the cathedral churches. Schools similar to the catecheti- 
cal schools gradually became a necessity in each diocese 
to supply clergy, and promotions in the clerical ranks 
became dependent upon attendance in these schools. 
Naturally these schools fell under the supervision of the 
bishops and were called at first bishops' schools or epis- 
copal schools; but gradually in the West this name 
was superseded by the title cathedral schools, from 
their association with the cathedral church. After the 
disappearance of the pagan schools, the cathedral schools 
and the monastic schools divided between them the field 
of education during the entire medieval period. As their 
work was similar, a knowledge of the work of the cathe- 
dral schools can be obtained by the study of the monastic 
schools, to which we shall now turn. 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Articles in the Cyclopedia of Education on individual Chris- 
tian Fathers, Church, Catechumenal, Catechetical, Cathedral, 
and Bishops' Schools, Benedictines. 

Catholic Encyclopedia. Similar articles. 

GRAVES; F. P. A History of Education. Vol. I, Chap. 
XIV. 

Monroe^ Paul. Textbook in the History of Education. 
Chap. V, Sec. I. 

Parker, S. C, The History of Modem Elementary Edu- 
cation. Chap. II. 

QUESTIONS, COMPARISONS, AND TOPICS FOR ' 
FURTHER STUDY 

1. Is Christianity as successful today in its appeal to the 
proletariat as it was in the first century? 

2. What caused the emphasis upon the practice of the 
Christian virtues which characterized the faithful in the first 
and second centuries to give way to the emphasis upon belief 
which characterized them in the third and fourth centuries? 

3. What would be the natural effect upon education of 
the difference between the pagan and the Christian attitude 
towards death? 

4. Why did the incursion of the German barbarians 
strengthen the hostile attitude of the Church toward pagan 
culture and education? 

5. Compare the work undertaken in the catechetical school 
with that of the Sunday school today. 

6. Why would the ideals of Christianity more naturally 
lead to the establishment of hospitals, foundling and orphan 
asylums, and similar philanthropic institutions than those 
of paganism? 

7. Compare the appeal made to the poorer classes of the 
Roman world by Christianity with that made to them today 
by Socialism. 

8. Compare the fleeing of the Christians from the world 
before Constantine's conversion and after it. 

74 



PART II 

EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES 

Characteristics: The submergence of the individual 
in institutions. The ''otherworldly" aim of life, hence 
education essentially religious and under the control of 
the Church. 



CHAPTER VII 

EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES 

Outline. — Monasticism developed as a protest against the 
prevailing worldliness, and was organized in the West by St. 
Benedict a.d. 529. He prescribed two hours a day of reading 
for the monks; to enable the novices to secure which the 
monastic school was established, in which the curriculum de- 
veloped into the seven liberal arts. 

Because of the troubled conditions of the seventh and eighth 
centuries learning greatly decayed. Charlemagne did much 
to restore it by establishing the Palace School, with Alcuin 
as headmaster, and by improving the monastic and cathedral 
schools. 

In addition to the clergy, the other important class of the 
Middle Ages was the knights, who received an education in 
"the rudiments of love, of war, and of religion." The future 
knight was apprenticed to a lady as a page from seven to 
fourteen, and to a lord as a squire from fourteen to twenty- 
one, when he might be knighted. 

The Saracens in the East absorbed Greek learning and 
brought it with them to Spain. There they developed a 
splendid culture in literature, art, science, and philosophy. 
Christians were admitted to their schools and brought back 
to Christian Europe much of the Saracen learning. Avicenna 
in medicine and Averroes in philosophy were studied in the 
medieval universities. 

A number of causes combined to produce an educational 
revival in the twelfth century, which had scholasticism as its 
chief intellectual product. This was a method of philoso- 
phizing which aimed to reconcile faith and reason. It re- 

77 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

suited in the organization of the limited laiowledge of the 
times into complete systems on the basis of Aristotelian de- 
duction. 

The medieval university arose as a specialized school of 
some one of the great professional studies — determined in 
each case by local conditions. The students, who came from 
many different countries, were divided into nations; the teach- 
ers were divided into the four faculties of arts, law, medicine, 
and theology. The nations and faculties elected representa- 
tives to the university council, which was the governing body, 
and which elected its executive officer, the rector. 

The content of study in all the faculties was taken from 
textbooks which were read and explained by the masters. In 
addition the students received a training in debate by means 
of disputations. The courses were narrow, but the methods 
developed acute reasoners. 



A. MONASTIC EDUCATION 

Nature and Growth of Monasticism. — As has already 
been stated, during the first two centuries the Chris- 
tians remained a distinct community within society, par- 
ticipating but little in its political and social activities. 
But as Christianity grew in strength and numbers its 
adherents entered into the secular life of the time and 
were distinguished from the pagans by their religious 
beliefs rather than by their attitude towards life. Hence 
many who believed that the spiritual perfection neces- 
sary to eternal salvation was only to be secured by re- 
maining distinct from worldly pleasures and activities 
fled society and took refuge in the wilderness of the 
desert or the forest, where they found fugitives from 
the persecutions. World-renunciation is the first essen- 
tial element in monasticism. The method of securing 
spiritual perfection thru bodily mortification was the 

78 



EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES 

second essential element. The pagan exalted and beau- 
tified the body while neglecting the soul. The Christian 
exalted and beautified the soul by neglecting and even 
debasing the body. The early ascetics fled into the 
deserts of Egypt, where they lived as hermits or anchor- 
ites. But the social instinct prevailed in the course of 
time, and by c. 330 we find that Pachomius had organ- 
ized a monastery on the island of Tebernae in the Nile, 
where the monks lived apart in separate cells for con- 
templation, but came together for meals, prayers, and 
religious services. St. Basil introduced this cenobitic 
system into Greece c. 350, and Athanasius and Jerome 
transferred it to the West shortly afterward. For nearly 
two centuries each monastery in the West lived under its 
own regulations. But in 529 St. Benedict, a Roman 
patrician who fled the corruption of the city, founded 
the monastery of Monte Cassino in southern Italy. He 
drew up a rule or code, consisting of seventy-three arti- 
cles, which dealt in detail with the organization and ad- 
ministration of the monastery and the daily life of the 
monks. The ''Rule of Benedict" was gradually adopted 
by nearly all monasteries of the West, and every succeed- 
ing order that was established based its code upon it. 

Monastic Ideals. — The ideals of monasticism, which 
are best summed up in its three vows of poverty, chas- 
tity, and obedience, would seem to have slight connection 
with education. Poverty meant the renunciation of ma- 
terial interests; chastitj^, of family relations; and obedi- 
ence, of political organization. The monks neglected the 
three great aspects of social life, viz., industrial organi- 
zation, the family, and the state. The problem of recon- 
ciling individual liberty with social security did not 
exist where the individual voluntarily surrendered his 
liberty. But tho these ideals would seem to make the 

79 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

institution of monasticism anti-social, they had a very 
great influence in the civilizing of the barbarians. 

The Eule of St. Benedict. — The social contributions of 
monasticism are largely the result of St. Benedict's code, 
especially of the forty-eighth article, which prescribed 
at least seven hours daily of manual labor and two of 
reading. The provision regarding manual labor rescued 
the latter from the disrepute into which slavery had 
brought it and furnished a densely ignorant population 
with leaders and experts in the manual arts. The monks 
became model farmers, draining swamps, introducing 
new crops, reducing forests. They became, moreover, 
model craftsmen in wood, iron, leather, silver, and gold. 
But the provision requiring at least two hours of reading 
had social and educational effects in which we are more 
directly interested. It made the monastery : 

1. The publishing house of the Middle Ages. If the 
monks were to read, manuscripts had to be reproduced 
and multiplied. Each monastery had a scriptorium, in 
which not only the sacred writings, but even some of the 
Latin classics were copied. 

2. The library of the Middle Ages. In the course of 
time practically every monastery had a library in which 
the copied manuscripts were placed. And tho it seldom 
contained more than half a thousand volumes, and those 
chiefly of sacred literature, there grew up the practice of 
exchange between libraries and even of circulating privi- 
leges for outsiders. 

3. The center of literary activity of the Middle Ages. 
The monks not only copied manuscripts, they wrote vol- 
umes. The monastic chronicles are our chief source of 
knowledge of the institutions and customs of the time; 
and, tho sometimes unreliable in fact because of the 
monks ' desire to enhance the position of the Church, they 

80 



EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES 

are more accurate than the court chronicles. Moreover, 
the monks wrote lives of the saints, sermons, moral 
tales, and commentaries on the Scriptures and Church 
Fathers. 

4. The school of the Middle Ages. If the youths who 
joined the orders were to read two hours per day in the 
Scriptures, the Church Fathers and the missal, and 
participate in the copying of the manuscripts, they had 
to be taught at least to read and to write. Hence, tho 
nothing appears in the seventy-three rules about either 
schools or teaching, the monastic schools arose as the 
result of the prescription of reading. 

The Monastic School. — At first the education of the 
monastery was devoted wholly to the ohlati (those of- 
fered), i. e., the novices, and was almost entirely relig- 
ious. Reading and writing were taught as necessary to 
the study of the sacred books, singing for the religious 
services, and reckoning to calculate the church festivals. 
But in time one or other of the compendia or encyclo- 
pedias which contained in condensed form the elements 
of the classical culture was used for the higher educa- 
tion which began to develop. Even before the disap- 
pearance of the pagan schools Martianus Capella wrote, 
c. A.D. 420, a treatise called * * The Marriage of Philology 
and Mercury,'' which contains in a dry, allegorical 
form the teaching then given in the seven liberal arts. 
This was one of the favorite textbooks of the Middle 
Ages. Boethius, the ''Last of the Romans" (480-524), 
wrote brief treatises on logic, ethics, arithmetic, geome- 
try and music, which were extensively used as textbooks. 
His ' ' Consolations of Philosophy, ' ' the most widely read 
secular work of the Middle Ages, gave to the first half of 
that period practically all it knew of the ancient phi- 
losophers and moralists. Cassiodorus (490-585) in his 

81 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

work, ''On the Liberal Arts and Sciences," introduced 
the term, "the seven liberal arts." Isidore of Seville 
(570-636), the bishop of that city, in his ''Origines" 
or ' ' Etymologiae, " which was an encyclopedia of all 
the knowledge of the day, used the terms trivium and 
quadrivium. Isidore became a chief authority in the 
monastic schools, and after his time the seven liberal 
arts became the traditional curriculum. 

The Trivium and Quadrivium. — Grammar, rhetoric, 
and dialectic (logic) formed the arts part of the curric- 
ulum; arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music, the 
science part. The content of each subject is not well 
indicated by the name. Grammar included literature, 
and in the stronger monasteries not only Virgil but other 
pagan authors were studied. Arithmetic, on the other 
hand, consisted of nothing but calculating, until the in- 
troduction of the so-called "Arabic" notation, when its 
content was much increased. In fact, with each of the 
seven studies there was a growth during the Middle 
Ages from the very rudiments of the subject to a broad 
field. Geometry came to include not only the complete 
system of Euclid, but whatever was known of geography 
and surveying. Astronomy, at first devoted to the ar- 
ranging of feasts and fast days, came to include a con- 
siderable knowledge of both astronomy and phj^sics. 
Rhetoric, at first needed merely for drawing up official 
letters, gradually covered a good deal of history and 
some law. The importance attached to a subject de- 
pended upon the needs of the period. During the first 
half of the Middle Ages, when a knowledge of Latin 
was the greatest essential, grammar and rhetoric were 
most emphasized. When the Saracen learning began 
to spread from Spain, arithmetic, geometry and astron- 
omy received much attention. After the eleventh cen- 

82 



EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES 







The Medieval System of Education Summarized 
From Cubberley's "History of Education Syllabus." Macmil- 

lan Co. 

tury, during the long scholastic controversy between 
nominalism and realism, dialectic was the chief subject. 
It must be remembered that in the ordinary monasteries 
only the rudiments of these subjects were given in the 

83 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

early Middle Ages, and that the broader knowledge was 
confined to a few of the great monasteries, such as Cluny 
and Tours in France, St. Gall in Switzerland, Fulda 
and Beichenau in Germany, York and Canterbury in 
England, Monte Cassino in Italy. The study of the 
Greek language and the Greek literature rapidly dis- 
appeared on the Continent, but was continued with en- 
thusiasm in Ireland, the "university of western Eu- 
rope, ' ' as late as the tenth century. In fact it was from 
Ireland that scholars brought the love of learning which 
distinguished the monasteries of northern England in 
the seventh and eighth centuries and made Wearmouth 
and Yarrow, where the Venerable Bede wrote his Chron- 
icle, c. 725, two of the great centers of learning for 
Europe. 

Administration of the Monastic Schools. — No one could 
be admitted as a regular member of the order until he 
was eighteen ; therefore, as boys of ten were received into 
the monastery, the course often lasted seven or eight 
years, altho the required novitiate was only two years. 
In the later medieval period boys who did not intend to 
enter the order were also admitted. These were called 
externi, in distinction to the oblati or interni; it is 
doubtful whether they received such detailed instruc- 
tion as the ohlati. The chief method of teaching used 
was that of question and answer; but, because of the 
scarcity of books, the teachers had much recourse to dic- 
tation and the pupils to memorizing. The discipline was 
severe, the teachers making frequent use of the rod. It 
should be remembered that no instruction in the vernacu- 
lar was given in any of these schools, and that they 
were secondary schools rather than elementary. The 
only purely elementary schools were the song schools 
attached to the cathedrals, in which reading and writing 

84 



EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES 

were taught, as well as singing. Another fact to be 
remembered is that many of the convents or nunneries 
had schools in which girls were taught reading, writing, 
reckoning, singing, and sewing and embroidery for the 
production of the altar cloths and other religious ma- 
terials. 

Charlemagne and the Revival of Learning. — The devel- 
opment of education during the Middle Ages was not a 
steady growth from the fifth to the fifteenth century. 
The status of learning depended to a great extent upon 
political conditions. It was far lower in the eighth cen- 
tury than in the ninth and higher in the ninth than in 
the tenth. This was chiefly due to the great impulse 
given to education by Charlemagne, who reigned 771- 
814. Charlemagne had conquered many of the pagan 
German peoples to the east, and he was anxious to extend 
to them as much of the Roman culture as remained. 
Moreover, he felt that the different peoples of his domin- 
ions could never be brought into a real unity without 
a common language, culture and ideals. To attain 
this he adopted three measures which proved most suc- 
cessful. 

The Palace School. — First, he established the Palace 
School. He called together scholars of repute from all 
over Europe to teach in the school, with Alcuin of York, 
the greatest scholar of the day, as master. The members 
of the royal family, including Charlemagne himself, and 
the sons of the nobility were the students. By means of 
this school Charlemagne hoped to secure intelligent ad- 
ministrators both in church and state. Moreover it 
would serve as a model from which teachers could be 
sent to found similar schools thruout the empire. To 
maintain a constant supervision of the school, Charle- 
magne had it accompany him on his various circuits. 

85 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

The Capitularies. — Secondly, Charlemagne made the 
greatest use of the instruments at hand, viz., the cathe- 
dral and monastic schools. Beginning with the capitu- 
lary or decree of 787, he issued a series of decrees di- 
rected, for the cathedral schools, to the bishops and, for 
the monastic schools, to the abbots, ordering them to see 
that every cathedral and monastery had its school, pre- 
scribing the studies that should be taught, and com- 
manding an earnest study of religious books by the regu- 
lar and secular clergy. 

The Missi Dominici. — Thirdly, Charlemagne as a great 
statesman knew that the decrees, to be of any value, 
would have to be enforced. Hence he empowered his 
official messengers, the missi dominici, without previous 
notice to enter any monastery and observe whether his 
orders were being carried out. An unfavorable report 
would bring upon the offending monastery the wrath 
of the emperor and probably result in the removal of 
its head. These measures necessarily caused an imme- 
diate and decided improvement in the number and char- 
acter of the schools. Nor did this educational activity 
cease with the death of Charlemagne. In 817 his suc- 
cessor ordered the establishment of schools for externi 
as well as for ohlati, and it was only after the troubled 
times following the division of the empire and the inva- 
sions of the Northmen that the cause of education on 
the Continent received a setback, from which it did not 
recover until the beginning of the twelfth century. 

In the meantime Alfred of England, who reigned 
871-901, followed the example of Charlemagne in estab- 
lishing a palace school and calling learned scholars to 
his aid. In order to provide material for study and 
reflection and to spread learning as widely as possible, 
he translated into the vernacular a number of works, 

86 



EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES 

the chief among which was Boethius' ''Consolations of 
Philosophy. ' ' Even the ravages of the Danes could not 
destroy all the good he accomplished. 

AlcuiiL (735-804). — Alcuin's service to the cause of 
education v/as not limited to his work as master of Char- 
lemagne 's Palace School. In 794 he retired from that 
position to become Abbot of Tours, the richest monastery 
of France, which he made a center of learning. Alcuin 
had not a creative mind, and his treatises on grammar, 
rhetoric, dialectic and arithmetic, written in the catechet- 
ical form, mark no advance in either thought or matter. 
In fact he was essentially a conservative and did not ap- 
prove of the advanced views of the Irish scholars. But he 
sent scores of scholars thruout Europe to teach, and he 
rendered an equally great service in editing the manu- 
scripts of early writings which in the course of repeated 
transcription had become filled with error as well as with 
barbarous Latin. 

Rabanus Maums (776-856). — The most noted pupil of 
Alcuin was Rabanus Maurus, who made the monastery 
of Fulda in Northern Germany as important a center of 
learning as Tours. He was a man of greater initiative 
than Alcuin and showed greater originality in his treat- 
ment of the same subjects. Moreover, he considered 
dialectic, not grammar, as the chief instrument of learn- 
ing and power. His greatest work was "On the Educa- 
tion of the Clergy," which contains his views on the 
seven liberal arts. 

Johannes Scotus Erigena (c. 810-875). — But the most 
virile intellectual work of the period was done by the 
Irish scholars. Their influence was greatly extended on 
the continent when Johannes Scotus Erigena was called 
(c. 850) to be master of the Palace School. This re- 
markable man brought with him a thoro knowledge of 

87 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

Greek and a love of the pagan authors. Moreover he 
had a more vigorous mind than any of his predecessors 
or contemporaries, emphasized the study of dialectic, and 
stimulated speculation upon questions of theology. He 
was really the forerunner of scholasticism. 

B. CHIVALRIC EDUCATION 

Nature of Chivalry. — The German warrior was char- 
acterized by a spirit of personal independence and vol- 
untary loyalty to a chief. When the dominions of the 
Roman empire were conquered, the land was divided 
among these warriors, and military service on horseback 
gradually became limited to those holding land. The 
ideals of obedience and service developed by these social 
conditions and refined by Christianity remained the 
ideals of the knight until he disappeared with the pass- 
ing of the Middle Ages. These ideals had the great- 
est influence in modifying the lawless selfishness of a 
time when might made right. The good social usage 
and social form developed in the maintenance of these 
ideals became known as chivalry, and, like every other 
institution, it slowly changed its character with time. 
While religion, honor, and gallantry remained always 
the springs of action for the knight, during the period 
before the Crusades, when chivalry became definitely or- 
ganized, the religious aspect was the most prominent. 
This was the period of the Chanson de Roland, the 
Arthurian legends, the search for the Holy Grail. After 
the Crusades the secular element became more promi- 
nent, devotion to one's lady superseding devotion to the 
Church in importance. This was the period of the trou- 
badours in Prance and of the minnesingers in Germany. 
In the course of time the customs and rules of chivalry, 

88 



EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES 

which required a definite education for their acquisition, 
became fixed and formal ; and this led to the artificialities 
and absurdities which accompanied its downfall. 

Place of the Knight in Medieval Society. — Until about 
1200 medieval society was divided into three great 
classes: serfs, clergy, and knights. The commercial and 
industrial towns had only begun to develop, the uni- 
versities had not yet been established, and the Crusades 
had not yet discovered the importance of the yeomanry. 
From the standpoint of education the serfs may be neg- 
lected, as few received any education beyond that in 
religion given by the parish priests. The education of 
the clergy has been described, and whatever education 
the yeomen received was obtained either as externi in the 
monasteries or in the schools attached to the churches. 
But the knight received a prolonged training which, the 
without much intellectual content, had profound in- 
fluences upon the individual and society. In the earliest 
medieval period it was customary for the inferior no- 
bility to send their sons and daughters as hostages to 
their overlords. Moreover, wardship by an overlord, 
i. e., the legal custody of orphan children, brought a 
considerable number of such children to the lord 's castle. 
It was necessary to provide proper training for these 
boys and girls, and for others, not wards, who were sent 
to the court by parents with a view to their making suit- 
able marriages. 

The Education of the Knig^ht. — Until the age of seven 
the sons of the gentry and nobility remained at home, 
being educated in morals and religion. At seven they 
went to the overlord 's castle and began the long process 
of training which was to end only when they were 
clothed with the armor of knighthood. From seven to 
fourteen a boy was practically apprenticed as a page 

89 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

to a lady, from whom he learned good manners, reading, 
writing, singing, and dancing, and sometimes also to 
write verse, to play the harp, and to play chess. His 
chief function within doors was to perform the many 
personal duties that attached to his position as page. 
Outdoors he was taught to swim, ride, box, wrestle, and 
to joust at a dummy man called the ''quintain." At 
fourteen the page became a squire, and his chief service 
was now with his knight or lord. He still waited upon 
his lady, with whom he hunted, sang, and played chess 
and the harp, but his pleasures consisted chiefly in hunt- 
ing and hawking with his lord. His duties were most 
numerous, for he waited upon his lord's table, made his 
bed, groomed his horse, kept his armor perfect, attended 
him in the tournament or in actual warfare, and inci- 
dentally learned all the arts of war, especially how to 
fight with sword, spear, and battle-axe. At twenty-one 
he was knighted in a most elaborate ceremony, tho some 
individuals, because of lack of property, remained 
squires all their lives. The ceremony itself was pre- 
ceded by weeks of religious preparation and by a night 's 
solitary vigil in the church. In the morning, after par- 
taking of the sacrament, his sword was blessed by the 
priest or bishop ; he took the oath ' ' to defend the church, 
to attack the wicked, to respect the priesthood, to pro- 
tect women and the poor, to preserve the country in tran- 
quillity, and to shed his blood in behalf of his brethren ' ' ; 
and he was then knighted by his lord. Sometimes a squire 
was knighted on the field of battle for some act consid- 
ered particularly commendable. 

Education of the Girl in the Castle. — ^While the young 
man was receiving the education described above, his 
sister was receiving a training similar in practically all 
of its features except the physical and military. In ad- 

90 



EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES 

dition, a knowledge of household duties and of sewing, 
weaving, and embroidery was given. It was probably a 
broader education than that given in the convent; at 
least it included social features usually neglected there. 
Effects of Chivalric Education. — The training in "the 
rudiments of love, of war, and of religion" had a most 
beneficial influence in softening and refining the habits 
and customs of a harsh age. Tho faults and even vices 
still characterized the average knight, he had a higher 
regard for vv^omanhood, for the sacredness of an oath, 
for courtesy to his fellow men than he could possibly have 
had except for the training he received in the castle in 
the ideals of chivalry. Moreover, tho this was some- 
times an education merely of worldly refinement, it was 
a foil to the ''otherworldliness" of the monk and nun. 
It is to chivalry also that we owe the beginning of the 
vernacular literatures, in the tales, ballads and lyrics 
that were sung during the long winter evenings in the 
castle. Finally the ideals of obedience and service upon 
which chivalry was based had a splendid effect in modi- 
fying the extreme individualism of the German. For 
this was as necessary as a modification of the excessive 
state control of the ancient world, to secure a wise solu- 
tion of the problem of reconciling individual liberty with 
social stability. 

C. SARACEN EDTJCATION 

The Arabs in Contact with Greek Culture. — ^We have 
seen that the greatest of the catechetical schools were de- 
veloped in the East at Alexandria, Antioch, Ephesus, 
and other places, and that for more than a century after 
their establishment they showed a liberal attitude to- 
wards the Hellenic culture. By the fifth century, how- 

91 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

ever, the Eastern Church had become characterized by 
a narrow orthodoxy which caused the expulsion of all 
suspected of the various heresies that had resulted from 
the attempt to amalgamate Greek philosophy with Chris- 
tianity. The most important of these expulsions, educa- 
tionally, was that made by the Council of Ephesus, 
A.D. 431, when it proscribed the Hellenized theology of 
Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople. The Nestorians 
fled to the cities of Syria, especially to Nisibis, Antioch, 
and Edessa, beyond the control of the Eastern Church. 
There they developed splendid schools where the study 
of Greek science and philosophy was carried on, not 
only by means of translations into Syriac, but from 
original Greek treatises. Hence when, after conquering 
the ignorant and superstitious tribes of Arabia, Moham- 
medanism moved westward into Syria (635), it came into 
contact with a people of very different intellectual cali- 
ber, for whom Mohammedanism had to be rationalized 
before it could be accepted. By the end of the next 
century a great educational movement had commenced 
thru the influence of the Nestorians, having for its ob- 
ject the translation into Arabic of the works of the 
Greek scientists, philosophers, and physicians. The 
movement continued to grow in vigor during the next 
two centuries, and the tenth century found Damascus, 
Bagdad, and other Saracen cities renowned for their 
learning. The Arabs were assimilators rather than crea- 
tors and absorbed not only from Greek but from Hindu 
and other sources. Avicenna (980-1037) wrote treatises 
on mathematics, medicine and philosophy; and to his 
influence is due the encyclopedia arranged at Basra by 
the ''Brothers of Sincerity." This encyclopedia is an 
exposition of the entire Arabian learning, and closes 
with an attempt at harmonizing faith and reason. But 

92 



EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES 

the orthodox Mohammedans were greatly opposed to the 
Greek learning and its influence on their religion; and 
finally, c. 1050, its adherents were driven out and found 
refuge among the liberal Moslems of Spain and western 
Africa. 

Saracen Education in Spain. — A splendid culture re- 
sulted from the introduction of the Eastern learning into 
the West. In the twelfth century a well-organized sys- 
tem of education was developed thruout the Mohamme- 
dan dominions in Spain. In all towns and cities were 
established elementary or mosque schools, where were 
taught reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, gram- 
mar, and religion. In the large cities like Cordova, 
Granada, Seville, Toledo, and Salamanca universities 
were founded, where not only was the existing knowl- 
edge taught by Moorish and Jewish scholars, but bril- 
liant applications of it were made in mathematics, 
science, and philosophy. The Moorish scholars intro- 
duced into arithmetic the Arabic notation which they 
had borrowed from the Hindus. They made remark- 
able advances in physics, physiology, medicine, surgery, 
and pharmacy. They taught geography from globes, and 
astronomy from observatories. They made inventions, 
such as the pendulum clock, and discoveries, such as ni- 
tric and sulphuric acids. They used the compass and 
gunpowder, raised cotton and cultivated the silkworm, 
and in navigation, commerce, and industries were far in 
advance of Christian Europe. 

Influence of Averroes upon European Thought. — But it 
was not in these directions that their greatest influence 
was exerted upon western Europe, but in the domain of 
thought. It is hard to overemphasize the influence of 
Averroes (1126-1198) upon the thinkers of the later Mid- 
dle Ages, Christian and Jewish. He was the greatest 

93 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

commentator Aristotle that appeared from the fall 
of Rome to the Renaissance. He freed the master's 
thought from the Neo-Platonism with which it had be- 
come overlaid and introduced a spirit of rationalism into 
Moslem theology which eventually proved his undoing. 
His commentaries on Aristotle were translated into Latin 
and became authoritative with the schoolmen, wielding 
a great influence upon such distinguished scholars as 
Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas. Hence after 
fanatical orthodoxy among the Moors drove learning 
out of Spain at the end of the twelfth century, the 
philosophy of Averroes and the medicine of Avicenna 
continued to influence the thought of Christian scholars 
for centuries. 

D. THE EDrCATIONAL INFLUENCE OE SCHOLASTICISM 

Origin of Scholasticism. — The early Middle Ages, from 
A.D. 500-1000, foraied an age of faith, in which men ac- 
cepted their beliefs without question. Towards the end 
of the period a number of conditions arose which pro- 
foundly affected that attitude of mind. The attacks of 
the Norsemen ceased entirely and gave opportunity for 
the development of civil and intellectual life. The learn- 
ing of the Saracens began to percolate into Christian 
Europe, challenging the Christian to defend the doc- 
trines of his religion ; and in the twelfth century many 
of the Crusaders returned from the East, influenced in- 
tellectually by what they saw and heard among Greeks 
and Arabs, and seeking a solution of the doubts that had 
arisen. Hence the necessity of showing the reasonable- 
ness of the Church doctrines and restating them in a 
more rational and systematic form. This, then, is the 
essence of scholasticism — the harmonizing of faith and 

94 



EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES 

reason. It soon resulted in a conflict between authority 
and reason, but its characteristic attitude was one of 
conciliation. Scholasticism in fact is not a system of 
philosophy so much as a method of philosophizing. 

Nature of Scholasticisin. — Whenever a new intellectual 
impulse arises among men it will naturally be directed 
to that aspect of human thought or activity in which 
men are at the time most interested. Hence the educa- 
tional renaissance of the twelfth century, resulting, as 
it did, in the intellectual product called scholasticism 
and in the institution known as the medieval university, 
where scholasticism found lodgment, was naturally con- 
cerned with religion. Religion was what men were in- 
terested in. Religion imposed its language and thought 
upon every other activity of man, whether architecture, 
music, or literature. The Church, the institution in 
which religion was embodied, became chiefly interested 
in giving its great doctrines proper philosophical state- 
ments and reducing them all to a harmonized system. 
In performing this task there broke out among its in- 
tellectual leaders the great controversy over the nature 
of knowledge, the problem of universals, which divided 
the schoolmen for centuries into the two camps of the 
realists and the nominalists. 

The Controversy Between Realists and Nominalists. — 
Anselm of Canterbury (1034-1109), often called the 
father of scholasticism, based the realist position on the 
Platonic doctrine that ideas constitute the only real 
existence. The concept, or general term, is the archetype 
in the divine mind upon which the phenomenal thing 
has been modeled. Rosceilinus of Compiegne (1050- 
1106) based the nominalist position on an interpretation 
of Aristotle to the effect that ideas, concepts or uni- 
versals are only names which can be applied to a class 

95 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

of individual things and that reality consists in the indi- 
vidual concrete objects. The realists contended that as 
the human senses are deceptive, revealed truth alone is 
reliable and human experience and human reason may 
be trusted only so far as they support it. The nominalist 
position implied that truth can be reached only thru 
investigation by means of reason. Realism became the 
orthodox view of the Church, and Roscellinus was com- 
pelled to recant. His fate discouraged nominalism for 
two centuries, but his critical work was continued by his 
pupil, Abelard (1079-1142), the best known of the early 
schoolmen. Abelard 's position, conceptualism, was a 
compromise between the other two. He held that a 
concept or universal or class term had no objective ex- 
istence. Nevertheless it was not merely a name ap- 
plicable to a number of individual objects, but the sum 
total of the qualities those objects have in common. Tho 
Abelard 's philosophical position was a conciliatory one, 
his great influence as a teacher and his writings were 
distinctly critical of the orthodox position. Moreover, 
in his influential work *'Sic et Non'' he maintained that 
reason was antecedent to faith and the true fountain 
of much of Christian doctrine. Tho he was twice con- 
demned, his influence continued, and when in the early 
thirteenth century, as the result of the Crusaders' con- 
quest of Constantinople, Aristotle's *' Ethics," ''Phys- 
ics, ' ' and ' ' Metaphysics ' ' were recovered to the West, the 
tendency started by Abelard received a great impulse. 
The Church itself adopted Aristotle and made him her 
chief bulwark of defense. Philosophy and theology be- 
came allies, and during the thirteenth century scholasti- 
cism reached its zenith in the organization of theological 
views into perfectly logical systems by a number of 
deep and subtle thinkers. The greatest of these was 

96 



EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES 

Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), whose *'Summa Theo- 
logiae" has remained the authoritative presentation of 
the beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church. It is not 
only that, however, but also the most complete exposi- 
tion of the knowledge of the times, all organized into 
a logical system culminating in theology. The harmony 
in the scholastic world following the work of Aquinas 
was destroyed as the result of the revival of nominalism 
by William of Occam (1280-1347). He denied any ra- 
tional basis to theological doctrines and asserted that 
they were entirely matters of faith. In other words, he 
asserted the existence of two types of truth, the results 
respectively of revelation and reason. The tendency 
after him became more and more to adopt the truth 
which was supported by reason, and that meant the pass- 
ing of scholasticism. 

The Method of Scholasticism. — The early schoolmen 
were usually associated with cathedral or monastic 
schools, which in some cases developed into universities 
as the result of the intellectual awakening involved in 
scholasticism.^ The method of presenting subjects most 
generally used in the schools ^ was now superseded by 
the method of logical analysis. The entire subject or 
textbook was divided into appropriate parts, each of 
which was subdivided into heads, which in turn were 
divided into subheads down to the particular proposi- 
tion. In the universities the analytical method was ap- 
plied to the form of argumentation as well as to subject 
matter. First the problem was stated, then the argu- 
ments and authorities for the unorthodox solutions were 
given and refuted, then those for the orthodox solution 
were presented, and finally the several objections to it 

^See p. 99. 

*See p. 81. 

97 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

were answered in the same systematic manner. The chief 
textbook for use in the schools was the * ' Sententiae " 
(Opinions) of Peter the Lombard (1100-1160), a pupil 
of Abelard who taught at Paris. In the latter part of 
the scholastic period the *'Summa Theologiae" of 
Thomas Aquinas was equally popular. 

Influence of Scholasticism. — The method of scholasti- 
cism produced minds as keen and subtle as are met in 
any period of history. The attention of these minds 
was directed towards abstract and metaphysical ques- 
tions, not towards the world of man and nature ; hence 
comparatively little actual progress was made in widen- 
ing the boundaries of knowledge. But their analytical 
method showed that there were two sides to every ques- 
tion ; and, with the revival of nominalism under Occam, 
the insistence upon experience as a source of truth paved 
the way for the Renaissance and the development of mod- 
ern science. Moreover, scholasticism gave a great im- 
petus to intellectual pursuits, and resulted in the main- 
tenance of a large class of learned men at a time when 
the fighter was exalted. In fact it was only in its de- 
cay, when the schoolmen's discussions degenerated into 
endless and profitless quibbles over the use of terms, 
that scholasticism lost its educational value and signifi- 
cance. 

E. THE MEDIEVAL UNIVERSITY 

Rise of the Universities. — The thirteenth century was 
a period of remarkable progress in human history. The 
last of the pagan Teutons, the Northmen, had accepted 
Christianity and thereby given western Europe a period 
of comparative peace in which to develop. The Crusades 
destroyed the isolation of feudalism, stimulated the 
growth of cities and commerce, and greatly broadened 

98 



EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES 

the horizon of the western European. Contact with 
Saracen learning and the securing of copies of Aris- 
totle's works gave a great impulse to intellectual pur- 
suits. The numbers of students who attended the more 
prominent cathedral and monastic schools increased. In 
some of these schools distinguished teachers began to 
lecture on the new interests that had arisen, and at- 
tracted increased numbers of students. This in turn 
made a demand for additional teachers, and then the 
elements of a medieval university were present, viz., 
teachers and students. There were for a long time no 
buildings, libraries, or other appurtenances. In this way 
the University of Paris, the greatest of the medieval 
universities, was developed from the cathedral school 
of Notre Dame, chiefly as the result of the brilliant work 
in philosophy of Abelard and of his pupil, Peter the 
Lombard. Paris was not the first of the medieval uni- 
versities, however. Already a vigorous school of medi- 
cine had arisen at Salerno, near Naples, a place noted 
for its salubrious climate, at which invalids sojourned 
to take advantage of the mineral springs that were found 
there. It is supposed to have received its chief impulse 
from the labors of a monk, Constantius Africanus, who 
had traveled extensively in the East and translated into 
Latin the best of the Greek and Arabic authorities on 
medicine. About the same time a great interest had 
arisen in the study of law in northern Italy. This was 
due to the struggles of the cities there to retain their 
privileges against the encroachments of the German em- 
perors, privileges which depended upon charters, edicts, 
and grants running back to the time of the Roman em- 
perors. There were several cities in which the new study 
was undertaken, but Bologna became preeminent as the 
result of the work of the great jurist Imerius (c. 1067- 

99 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

1138). It is evident, therefore, that no specific dates 
can be assigned for the beginnings of the earliest uni- 
versities. They had existed for years as professional 
schools for the study of some special subject before 
they received charters from popes or sovereigns. Salerno 
never received a charter but was united to the school at 
Naples which the Emperor Frederick II chartered as a 
university in 1224. Bologna was, therefore, really the 
earliest of the medieval universities, having received a 
charter from Emperor Frederick I in 1158. Paris re- 
ceived official recognition in 1180 from Louis VII. As 
already stated these institutions at first taught but one 
subject and, even when they received a charter, did 
not always undertake lectures in each of the four facul- 
ties — arts, law, medicine, and theology — which consti- 
tuted the work of the medieval universities. Many of 
the later universities were started as secession move- 
ments from the early institutions, e. g., Oxford from 
Paris, Cambridge from Oxford, Padua from Bologna, 
Leipzig from Prague (which was the first German uni- 
versity) . But after the early thirteenth century the civil 
and ecclesiastical authorities vied with each other in 
the establishment of universities, so that by the end of 
the fifteenth century there were at least seventy-five in 
existence. 

It is well for the student at the outset of his study 
of the medieval university to understand the essential 
differences between a university and a school. They are : 

1. The university was chartered by pope, emperor, 
or king and, therefore, was independent (a) of local 
ecclesiastical authority — the bishop or the abbot — and 
(b) of local political dominance — the feudal overlord. 

2. Students came from afar. This resulted in break- 
ing down, for higher education, local or provincial ideas. 

100 



EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES 

3. The individual teacher or his doctrine was the 
drawing power, not simply education in the abstract. 

4. The university was for comparatively adult stu- 
dents. 

5. Each student took what he wanted instead of a 
fixed course. The learning offered in the university 
was rather heterogeneous and not so well organized as 
in the schools. 

Organization of the University. — Students came from 
all over Europe to hear distinguished teachers, and 
therefore the entire body of students was known as the 
studium generate. Outside the place of lecture, where 
all the students met in common to hear the master lec- 
ture in Latin, they naturally grouped themselves accord- 
ing to their place of origin, and such groups were called 
the ' * nations. " In an age when the foreigner was looked 
upon with suspicion and usually badly treated it was 
essential that the students thus group themselves for 
protection, and at first it was to these "nations'' that the 
civil or ecclesiastical authorities granted privileges. In 
fact the students imitated the gilds, as is shown by the 
complete name of their body, JJniversitas Magistrorum 
et Sckolarium (the corporation of masters and scholars). 
The term universitas meant corporation or chartered 
company and was applied to any legal association that 
had certain privileges. It was not until the fourteenth 
century that the term was restricted to the one kind of 
corporation that devoted itself to study. The real gov- 
erning power of the university resided in the ' ' nations, ' ' 
each of which chose a representative every year, called a 
councilor or procurator, who was to safeguard its rights 
and control the conduct of its members. The masters did 
not become organized into the groups called faculties 
until later, when it became necessary to give a more 

101 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

systematic organization to scholastic procedure. At first 
the term facultas meant a special department of knowl- 
edge, e. g., law, medicine, theology, arts; but later it 
was applied to the group of masters who taught that 
special department of knowledge. Each faculty an- 
nually elected a dean, and these deans with the coun- 
cilors of the ''nations'' formed a "university council" 
which annually elected the rector, the official head of the 
university. The rector, however, could exercise only 
the powers delegated to him. In the South, where the 
majority of the students were mature and were study- 
ing the professional subjects, the rector was for a long 
time a student, and the ''nations" remained in the con- 
trol of the students. In the North, where the majority 
of the students were attending the arts courses and were 
therefore younger, the rector was a master and the 
' ' nations ' ' much sooner lost their authority. The Church 
was represented in the university organization by the 
chancellor who, however, had no power and appeared 
only at the public conferring of the degrees. 

Privileges of the University. — Generally speaking the 
privileges granted to the masters and students of a 
university were the privileges of the clergy which had 
originally belonged to the teaching class under the 
Roman Empire. They were: (1) exemption from taxa- 
tion; (2) exemption from military service; (3) exemp- 
tion from civil jurisdiction, i. e., the members of the 
university could be tried in civil and criminal cases 
only by their own officials ; (4) the right to grant the de- 
gree, and thereby the right to teach anywhere without 
further examination; (5) the right to suspend lectures 
if the university privileges were infringed. If the latter 
wrong were not at once redressed the university might 
emigrate. 

102 



EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES 

Effect on Student Life. — The privileges of the univer- 
sity extended not only to the masters and students, but 
to their attendants and practically everybody employed 
in the university. Hence when we read of the large 
numbers of students that attended a medieval university 
due allowance must be made for this fact. The posses- 
sion of their privileges, especially the exemption from 
civil jurisdiction, which resulted in conflicts between 
town and gown, made the students a very inde- 
pendent body and enabled them to indulge in excesses 
which in course of time compelled monarchs to inter- 
vene and restrict their privileges. Moreover, many priv- 
ileges belonged to a student not only while he was in 
residence at a university but while he was going to 
and from it. The custom grew up among many unam- 
bitious and rollicking students of wandering from uni- 
versity to university, begging their way and leading any- 
thing but an exemplary life. These vagantes even 
formed a mock gild and were called goliardi, and 
have handed down to us a considerable literature of 
Latin student songs voicing their love of the reckless 
and unrestrained life they led. They became so numer- 
ous and riotous that by the fifteenth century some of 
the towns which they frequented were compelled to pass 
ordinances for their supervision. 

Career of a Student. — Apprenticeship was the method 
by which a man in the Middle Ages normally attained 
his vocation. The squire was apprenticed to a feudal 
lord, the would-be artisan to a master in a gild. So, 
when the young student went to a university at about 
fourteen, he was enrolled under a master who was re- 
sponsible for his studies. Under the supervision of this 
master he pursued his arts course for a period of from 
four to seven years, until he could *' define and deter- 

103 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

mine*' terms, which in reality meant to be efficient in 
reading, writing, and speaking Latin. When he was 
able to do this to the satisfaction of masters other than 
his own, he became a baccalaureate, i. e., one who is 
beginning his candidacy for a degree. In other words 
the baccalaureate was at first not a degree, but merely 
a kind of matriculation for a degree ; in course of time 
it was sought as an honor by those who did not intend 
to teach and it became a degree. When the student 
had become a baccalaureate, he continued his studies 
under the supervision of a master and in turn taught 
younger boys under his supervision. But he might 
study under a number of masters, and usually did so 
for a period of from four to seven years until he was 
able ''to dispute,'' i. e., to defend a thesis in public 
against the masters. He then completed his apprentice- 
ship, like the journeymen of a gild, by presenting his 
''masterpiece," his thesis, which, if successfully defend- 
ed, entitled him to the degree which carried with it the 
prize of university scholarship, i. e., the licentia docendi, 
the license to teach anywhere. Master, doctor, and pro- 
fessor were synonymous terms in the early university 
period; when any distinction was made between the 
master's and doctor's degree it was merely in the man- 
ner of acquiring them. The master's examination was 
private and formal ; the doctor 's took place immediately 
afterward in the cathedral into which crowded all the 
candidate's friends and fellow students, where, after 
publicly defending his thesis, he was invested with the 
degree with much ceremony. He was now admitted to 
the gild of teachers and could teach in competition with 
all the other masters. 

Content of Study. — Early in the thirteenth century 
the course of study had become thoroly organized. In 

104 



EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES 

the arts faculty ^ammar was studied from Donatus and 
Priscian. The works of Boethius provided the major 
part of the material for study in rhetoric (which re- 
ceived, however, very little attention), dialectic, arith- 
metic, and music. Euclid was studied in geometry, and 
Ptolemy in astronomy. Many additional texts in mathe- 
matics and philosophy were obtained from the Arabs. 
The study of logic overshadowed all others and Aristotle 
—whose ''Ethics," ''Politics," "Physics," and "Meta- 
physics" were added to the "Organon" previously pos- 
sessed by the schoolmen — was the master whose author- 
ity was not to be disputed. In the faculty of theology, to 
which most of the arts students afterwards went, the 
greater part of the time was given to Peter the Lom- 
bard's "Sententiae" or to Thomas Aquinas' "Summa 
Theologiae." In the faculty of law the course was di- 
vided into two parts, civil and canon. In the former the 
"Corpus Juris Civilis" was the authorized text, and in 
the latter the "Decretum" of Gratian. In the faculty 
of medicine the Greek treatises of Hippocrates and Ga- 
len, the ' ' Canon ' ' of Avicenna, and some of the medical 
works of the Saracen, Jewish, and Salernian doctors were 
the chief texts studied. The authorized texts in all the 
professional schools were accompanied by many commen- 
taries. 

Methods of Study. — The aim of teaching in a medieval 
university was to impart a knowledge of the subject 
matter and an ability to debate about it. Because of 
the lack of manuscripts the lecture method was used 
to impart the subject matter, and it usually took the 
form of dictation. The training in 'debate was given 
by means of the formal disputation, in which one student 
or group of students was opposed to another. This re- 
sulted in the development of keen and subtle debaters; 

105 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

but it is a question whether the disputation and the 
study of a limited number of texts of unquestioned au- 
thority in each field could develop free and profound 
thinking. The effect of the scholastic method, which was 
the method of the medieval university, has been discussed 
above, under scholasticism. 

Influence of the Medieval University. — The influence 
of scholasticism — which has also been considered — was 
one of the chief influences of the medieval university, 
wherein scholasticism found lodgment. But there were 
other great influences resulting from the existence of the 
universities. The gathering together of hundreds of 
young men from all over Europe had a most beneficial 
effect in modifying national prejudices among them, and 
when they returned home the}^ became agents for the 
distribution of a spirit of tolerance as well as of 'learn- 
ing. Moreover, the university symbolized the supremacy 
of mind over brute force. Directly, it had a most per- 
vasive influence upon education. It sent out large num- 
bers of well-equipped teachers at a time when they were 
most needed, and it compelled the lower schools to im- 
prove their work in order that their graduates might 
enter the university. The self-governing organization of 
the early university permitted a freedom of discussion on 
many problems, political and theological, which enabled 
it often to be the arbiter in controverted questions of 
church and state. It was in recognition of this political 
influence that the university was given representation in 
the parliaments of France, England, and Scotland. In 
fact it was the opinion of the university that was most 
feared by rulers in church and state. 

The Universities and the Friars. — A discussion of the 
medieval universities cannot be closed without a brief 
consideration of the remarkable influence exerted upon 

106 



EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES 

them by the new orders of mendicant friars, the Domini- 
cans and the Franciscans. During the eleventh and 
twelfth centuries there had been an increasing decay 
in the Benedictine monasteries and in the monastic 
schools attached to them. In the following century St. 
Francis of Assisi founded his order of gray friars (1212) 
and St. Dominic his order of black friars (1217), to go 
out and work among the people, living on charity, 
preaching the gospel, and, by setting an example of piety 
and self-sacrifice, awakening spirituality among the 
faithful. The fact that these orders were primarily 
preaching orders, as previous orders had not been, would 
result in an emphasis upon the education, first of their 
own members in order to preach, and then of their 
auditors. In their desire to spread their work among 
all classes they soon saw the necessity of becoming as- 
sociated with the newly established universities, and be- 
fore the close of the thirteenth century they were in 
control of higher education. All the great schoolmen 
were friars — Albertus Magnus and his great pupil 
Thomas Aquinas were Dominicans, while Duns Scotus 
and William of Occam were Franciscans. At first they 
were united in their efforts, but soon a rivalry sprang 
up between the two orders and each sometimes accused 
the other of teaching heretical doctrines — a healthful 
condition, since it aroused discussion and inquiry. On 
the whole the Dominicans were the guardians of 
orthodoxy, the Franciscans the initiators of new move- 
ments in philosophy and theology. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Articles in the Cyclopedia of Education upon Monastic, 
Chivalric, and Moslem Education, Scholasticism, the Medieval 
Universities, and individual schoolmen. 

107 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

Catholic Encyclopedia. Similar articles. 

CuBBERLEY, E. P. Syllabus in the History of Education. 
Chapters XIII-XX. 

Graves, F. P. A History of Education. Vol. II, Chapters 
I-IX. 

Monroe, P. Textbook in the History of Education. Chap. 
V. 

Parker, S. C. The History of Modem Elementary Edu- 
cation. Chap. II. 

Rashdall, H. The Universities of Europe in the Middle 
Ages. 

West, A. F. Alcuin and the Rise of the Christian Schools. 

QUESTIONS, COMPARISONS, AND TOPICS FOR 
FURTHER STUDY 

1. Is monasticism peculiar to the Christian religion? 

2. Does the pagan or the early Christian attitude towards 
the body conform more closely to that of education today? 

3. Compare the seven liberal arts with the curriculum of 
an American high school. 

4. Did the seven liberal arts conform to the modem aim 
of education as "adjustment to the social environment"? 

5. Explain why learning remained vigorous so much longer 
in Ireland than on the Continent. 

6. Compare the part played by Charlemagne in the revival 
of learning in the ninth century with that of Horace Mann in 
the public school revival of the nineteenth. 

7. Compare the work of the Palace School with that of 
a state normal school today. 

8. Compare the work of the missi dominiei of Charlemagne 
with that of a county or district superintendent in the United 
States. 

9. Compare the training of the body given under chivalry 
with that given by the Greeks. 

10. Compare the ideals of the ephebic oath with that taken 
by a knight on the day he was knighted. 

108 



EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES i 

I 

11. Why did not the remarkable advance in science made i 

by the Saracens in Spain have a greater effect upon Christian j 

Europe? \ 

12. Does the work of Thomas Aquinas in organizing j 
knowledge into encyclopedic form resemble in any way the 

similar work of Herbert Spencer? ^ 

13. In what respect as to origin do the medieval univer- i 
sities, the philosophical schools of Athens, and the schools \ 
of the Prophets among the Jews resemble each other? ' 

14. Compare the gradual growth in organization of a 
medieval university with that of an American university, \ 
such as Columbia. | 

15. Is the " Wander jahr'' of the Germans a survival of < 
the practice of the wandering students of the Middle Ages? i 

16. Is the preceptorial system at Princeton a survival, via 1 
Oxford, of the system of apprenticing students to masters in I 
the medieval university? ■< 

17. Compare the influence of the medieval university upon : 
public opinion with that of the university in Russia today. I 



PART III 

THE TRANSITION PERIOD 

Characteristics : The emergence of the individual from 
institutional control. The ''humanities" vs. the "di- 
vinities. ' ' The rise of secular interests and the increas- 
ing demand for secular control of education. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE KENAISSANCE 

Outline. — After the Crusades European society gradually 
became more interested in secular affairs. There resulted the 
Renaissance, the revival of an old, long-forgotten way of look- 
ing at life, i.e., the pagan view, with its joyous, self-reliant 
attitude towards present as against future life. Hence 
attention was directed to the literatures of Greece and Rome, 
which were termed the "humanities" as contrasted with the 
"divinities" of the prevailing education. 

The Renaissance first developed in Italy where it was char- 
acterized by its appeal to the esthetic emotions. The movement 
was greatly accelerated by the patronage of the tyrants of 
the cities who established court schools, the finest of which 
was that of Vittorino da Feltre at Mantua. 

The way for the Renaissance in the North had been pre- 
pared by the fine work of the Brethren of the Common Life 
who were interested in social as well as educational reform. 
The movement in Teutonic countries took on a reform aspect, 
as illustrated in Erasmus, and gave much attention to Chris- 
tian literature. 

Both in the North and the South, the early Renaissance 
movement, characterized by an enthusiasm for the classical 
literatures, degenerated into a fixed and formal study of the 
structure and style of the classical languages. This was 
known as Ciceronianism and was best typified by Johann 
Sturm who standardized the work of the German gymnasium. 

The Passing of the lOddle Ages. — The thirteenth cen- 
tury was the heyday of the medieval period. The unity 

113 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

of life and of ideas — political, religious, and intellectual 
— and the dominance of authority, which characterized 
it, began to give way in the fourteenth century, as the 
result of the new forces which were springing into life. 
The necessity of transporting thousands of crusaders 
and their equipment had resulted in the revival of sea- 
ports and cities. The burgher class which thus arose, 
composed of the merchants and the masters of the gilds, 
formed a caste distinct from nobles, clergy, and serfs, 
into which medieval society had been divided. The needs 
of this new class were different from those of the other 
classes, and this fact was reflected in their education. In 
the later Middle Ages there arose gild schools, which usu- 
ally gave elementary instruction in the vernacular as a 
foundation for the industrial education received by the 
apprentices in the gilds themselves. Chantry schools, 
founded upon bequests left by wealthy patrons to sup- 
port priests who were to chant masses for the repose of 
the souls of these patrons, also increased in number in 
the later Middle Ages. As these priests had much un- 
occupied time, they were expected to give instruction to 
the children of the neighborhood, and sometimes, thru a 
union of chantry foundations, strong schools of large 
size flourished in the big towns. As the result of the 
growth in numbers and influence of the burgher class 
and of their acquiring control of the government of the 
cities, these various kinds of schools were often united 
into hurgher schools. Tho these schools were usually un- 
der religious influences, the teachers were generally sec- 
ular priests, not monks, and the number of lay teachers 
gradually increased. Moreover, the burgher schools were 
supported and often controlled by the public authorities 
and gave instruction in subjects of a more practical na- 
ture than had hitherto been the case. As a result of the 

114 



THE RENAISSANCE 

rapid establishment of these various kinds of schools in 
the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, it can justly be 
stated that quite generous provision was made for ele- 
mentary and secondary education. 

Nature of the Renaissance. — The crusaders had dis- 
covered that the people of the East were not only more 
intelligent, but also they lived better and had better 
things to eat and to wear. As a result of the contact 
there grew up a demand for the products of the East 
which caused not only a growth of commerce but a taste 
for the good things of this life. In fact men became 
interested more and more in the life of the present world. 
The joy of living, the interest in the beauties and won- 
ders of nature, the wish to know more of man's social 
relations, of his real desires, ambitions, and duties grew 
with every year. The life of the monk became relatively 
less valued. ''Otherworldliness" began to give way to 
the interests of this world. That was the first char- 
acteristic of the Renaissance. It was a rebirth, indeed, 
a revival of an old long-forgotten way of looking at life, 
the ante- Christian way. Where was a knowledge of 
things human as against things divine to be found? 
Surely not in the literature of the past thousand years. 
That was devoted to the other world; to divinity, not 
humanity. In the ancient literatures of Greece and 
Rome humanity and the things that interest and con- 
cern humanity in this life were discussed. Hence atten- 
tion was directed to the classical literature. From this 
source have arisen the terms humanities, liumamsm, and 
humanists, which have become associated with this move,- 
ment. With the revival of the classical models, how- 
ever, the humanists slowly developed national litera- 
tures of poetry, drama, and romance, which eventually 
rivaled the models. A second characteristic of the 

115 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

Henaissance was the emphasis upon individuality. In 
the Middle Ages the individual counted for nothing. He 
had no rights except as a member of a group or institu- 
tion, such as the gild, the university, or the monastic 
order. During the Renaissance the old Athenian em- 
phasis upon personal worth and excellence was revived. 
The opportunity for personal self-realization as against 
rigid institutional control was demanded and realized. 

The Invention of Printing. — Fortunately, when the 
Renaissance movement had become well established, 
printing was invented (c. 1450) . This gave a very great 
impetus to the spread of the so-called "New Learning." 
The multiplication of books resulted in the lowering of 
their price to one-fifth of what it had been and brought 
them within the means of multitudes who had been 
without them. A perfect mania for ancient manuscripts 
spread thruout Europe. Monastery and castle were 
ransacked to find them, and then they were immediately 
reproduced upon the printing presses. As a result 
libraries arose in many of the large cities, e. g., the cele- 
l)rated Vatican library at Rome. These increased facili- 
ties for learning led naturally to a comparative study 
of accepted authorities, and the historical criticism which 
resulted was very destructive to accepted belief in all 
domains of thought. 

The Scientific Discoveries. — This result was accen- 
tuated by the scientific discoveries resulting from the 
spirit of investigation which had been aroused. The ex- 
plorers showed that the earth was round and not flat. 
Copernicus demonstrated a little later that the sun, not 
the earth, was the center of our system. Authority had 
been mistaken upon these things; might it not be mis- 
taken upon others? The old unity of life and ideals 
could not stand the onslaughts of skeptical criticism. 

116 



THE RENAISSANCE 

Men rejected the authority of abstract conceptions and 
demanded proofs of a concrete and real nature. These 
tendencies did not dominate at first, but they were ap- 
parent from the beginning. The mistake is sometimes 
made in textbooks of associating the Renaissance in time 
with the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Tho the move- 
ment was greatly accelerated by that event which pro- 
vided western Europe with a literature of far greater 
value and beauty than the Latin, nevertheless the Latin 
revival was in full swing before that event happened. 
Petrarch (1304-1374), who is usually referred to as ''the 
first modern man," and who was the embodiment of the 
early Renaissance, died eighty years before the fall of 
Constantinople. By that time the spirit of modern times 
was not only ushered in but was in process of gaining 
control. 

A. THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY 

To no country had the Crusades been of so much bene- 
fit as to the cities of Italy. The commerce that had re- 
sulted made them rich and intelligent. Tho suffrage was 
restricted they were nevertheless democracies, and po- 
litical activity made them keen and wide-awake. In 
Italy, moreover, the classical literatures had never en- 
tirely disappeared, tho there had been little apprecia- 
tion of their beauty or content. Now a mania for every- 
thing that had to do with the Greco-Roman period swept 
thruout society. The revulsion against the ' ' otherworld- 
liness'^ of the medieval period became so pronounced as 
to cause a reversion to paganism in many adherents of 
the New Learning. The greatest admiration for the 
Greek view of life prevailed, and devotion to the classical 
literature and delight in its esthetic appeal were char- 
acteristic of the Renaissance in Italy. It was essentially 

117 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

an individual and personal matter. Men studied the 
classical literature devotedly for the personal pleasure 
it gave them, not in order that they should thereby be 
better enabled to improve society. Hence it was an 
aristocratic movement. The movement, moreover, went 
thru several stages. The early period was marked 
by the revolt against tradition and authority, and an 
emphasis upon individualism in all its phases. As the 
number of scholars familiar with the New Learning in- 
creased, it gradually became organized for purposes of 
instruction. Unfortunately with organization it became 
more and more formal and devitalized until, by the be- 
ginning of the sixteenth century, it had degenerated into 
the inconceivably narrow educational system known as 
Ciceronianism. 

Petrarch (1304-1374) was the very embodiment of the 
early Renaissance spirit. No one attacked tradition so 
boldly or satirized the scholastic work of the schools and 
universities so successfully. He had a marked fourfold 
influence in spreading the New Learning. First, he de- 
voted himself during his extensive travels to collecting 
manuscripts of the old Latin writers, which he caused 
to be copied and widely distributed; secondly, in his 
numerous letters he tried successfully to inspire every 
friend with a love of the New Learning; thirdly, he 
wrote a number of Latin works — including his ' ' Letters 
to Famous Men, ' ' addressed to the ancient worthies such 
as Homer, Virgil and Cicero — which had a great effect 
upon his day, tho they were soon superseded. Finally, 
in his condemnation of scholastic and patristic writings, 
he delivered the final great blow to the master, Aristotle. 
''I am confident," he writes, ''that he was in error all 
his life." For Aristotle he substituted Cicero. It is his 
sonnets, however, which were written in the vernacular, 

118 



THE EENAISSANCE 

that give him his place in the history of modem litera- 
ture. 

The Recovery of the Greek Heritage. — Petrarch and 
his contemporaries for the most part knew no Greek, but 
toward the close of the fourteenth century Greek scholars 
came to Italy to teach. The greatest of these was Manuel 
Chrysoloras (1350-1415). H^ had been sent in 1393 by 
the Byzantine emperor to secure aid against the Turks 
and was urged to stay in Italy. Later he returned and 
started schools for instruction in Greek in the principal 
cities of northern Italy. Moreover, he made translations 
of some of the Greek authors, and wrote a work on Greek 
grammar which became the standard in Italy. Among 
his pupils were some of the most renowned scholars of 
the succeeding generation, who did great service in 
spreading knowledge of the Greek language and litera- 
ture thruout Europe. 

Vittorino da Feltre (1378-1446).— One of the most 
potent influences in the spread of the New Learning was 
the increase in the number of tyrants who held control 
of the governments of the Italian cities in the fifteenth 
century. Desirous of making some return to the people 
for the latter 's loss of political power, they vied with each 
other in making their cities illustrious as centers of the 
New Learning by the collection of manuscripts, the es- 
tablishment of libraries, the support of distinguished 
scholars, and the founding of new schools. The new 
schools were necessary because the existing schools and 
the universities were at first strongly antagonistic to the 
New Learning. The most important of these schools was 
that which was founded by the Prince of Mantua and 
placed under the control of Vittorino da Feltre, one of 
the most scholarly men of this time, who was thoroly im- 
bued with the New Learning. 

119 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

The Court School. — The court school aimed primarily 
to train the young nobles of the court for political and 
social life, but Da Feltre invited to his school the sons 
of friends and neighbors and even children of the poor. 
The organization of the school was much influenced by 
Athenian ideals ; hence we find that physical training re- 
<3eived great attention, in the form of swimming, fencing, 
boxing, riding, and dancing. Emphasis was placed also 
"upon deportment and manners, and they were developed 
under strong moral and religious influences, for Da Fel- 
tre was a devout Christian. However, it was the litera- 
tures of Greece and Rome that received most attention, 
and they were taught for an appreciation of their beauty 
as well as for the knowledge they gave of the institutions 
and ideals of the classical peoples. In his work Da 
Feltre realized some .of the finest principles of modern 
education. He adapted the training of each individual to 
his particular needs and capacities, thereby arousing in- 
terest in the studies and eliminating the harsh discipline 
so prevalent in his day. Da Feltre had a profound in- 
fluence upon his own time. It was only after his death 
that the narrow and formal training known as Cicer- 
onianism gained control. As this decay characterized the 
whole later Renaissance movement, we shall study it after 
considering the Renaissance in the North. 

B. THE RENAISSANCE IN NORTHERN EUROPE 

The Brethren of the Common Life. — ^While the Renais- 
sance was taking place in Italy, an educational move- 
ment of deep significance was making headway in the 
North. In 1376 there was established at Deventer, Hol- 
land, an organization of pious and social-minded 
men called the Brethren of the Common Life, or the 

120 



THE RENAISSANCE 

Hieronymians. Tho the members lived in communities^^ 
they were not bound by religious vows or rules and could, 
leave the organization at will. They supported them- 
selves chiefly by copying manuscripts. Their aim was 
to combat the ignorance of the lower classes and to in- 
spire in them, thru a knowledge of the Scriptures, a 
higher ideal than that of mere physical existence. Their 
purpose at first, therefore, was chiefly religious and their 
purely educational work was confined to helping poor 
scholars at the various schools to maintain themselves. 
They soon undertook to teach backward students so as to 
enable them to benefit by the school work. In this they 
were very successful; owing to their willingness to meet 
the needs of the students and their disdain of the rigid 
and formal methods of the established schools. Their 
success attracted attention and they were invited to take 
charge of existing schools and to open new ones. They 
broadened the content of study and improved the 
methods of teaching. In a comparatively short time 
they spread over a large part of northern France, Ger- 
many, and the Netherlands, founding numerous schools 
which outshone those already in existence. Wandering 
scholars from Italy bringing the treasures of the New 
Learning with them were received with enthusiasm by 
the Brethren and soon their schools became the centers 
from which the new education radiated. Many of them 
went to study in Italy and returned to give instruction 
in the New Learning in their schools. For example, Ru- 
dolphus Agricola was very successful in inspiring a love 
of the classics, and Johann Reuchlin virtually gave 
Hebrew the standing of a third classic. The way for the 
Renaissance in the North was well prepared, therefore, 
by the Brethren, and the two aspects which it assumed in 
the North, the pious and the educational, were incarnated 

121 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

in the life and works respectively of Thomas a Kempis 
and Erasmus, two of their most distin^ished prod- 
ucts. The introduction of printing deprived the Breth- 
ren of their chief means of support, and the competi- 
tion of the Jesuits and the religious troubles of the six- 
teenth century drove them out of the educational 
field. 

The New Learning in France. — It has already been 
mentioned that wandering scholars from Italy carried 
the New Learning with them to the northern countries 
of Europe. An even greater result followed the attempt 
on the part of the French king, Charles VIII, to con- 
quer northern Italy. In this he failed, but he and his 
nobles were brought into contact with the new culture 
of northern Italy and they invited scholars to return 
with them to France. The result was that the New 
Learning made a rapid conquest in France and institu- 
tions so far removed as the College de Guyenne at Bor- 
deaux and the College de France at Paris, founded by 
Francis I (1515-1547), became centers of great influence. 
For a generation, in fact, Paris was the chief center of 
the New Learning in the North and from it, largely 
thru the work of the Brethren of the Common Life, it 
was carried into the Teutonic countries. 

Characteristics of the Renaissance in Teutonic Coun- 
tries. — In the Teutonic countries the Renaissance as- 
sumed a different character. The appeal to the esthetic 
feelings was not so emphatic as in Italy. The New Learn- 
ing was valued not only as a source of individual happi- 
ness, of personal self-culture, but as an instrument of 
social reform. Hence not only the pagan literature of 
the ancients, but also the works of the Church Fathers 
had a place in the new education. The interpretation of 
the Old Testament for purposes of moral and religious 

122 



THE KENAISSANCB 

reform required a knowledge of Hebrew, and this 
followed quickly in the wake of Greek. The move- 
ment in the North assumed far more the nature of a 
crusade against ignorance as the mother of all 
social evils than in the South, and was necessarily- 
more democratic in its appeal. As the Church was the 
dominant institution of the times, it was naturally 
blamed for the ignorance, greed, and corruption that 
prevailed. The emphasis upon individual freedom as 
against institutional control that characterized the whole 
Renaissance movement took on in the North the char- 
acter of a revolt against authority in religion, and the 
Renaissance was the parent of the Reformation. 

Erasmus (1467-1536). — Erasmus was the incarnation 
of the Renaissance in the North and represents the union 
of the biblical and classical elements in the New Learn- 
ing. He had received his early education from the 
Brethren of the Common Life at Deventer, but deepened 
his knowledge of Latin and Greek literature at Paris, at 
Oxford, and in Italy. He spent many years of his life 
as an itinerant scholar, in universities in England, 
France, Germany, and Italy, and he was everywhere 
received with acclaim. He exercised an influence upon 
his day with which only that of Darwin upon the nine- 
teenth century is comparable. This influence he used 
during his long scholastic career to fight ignorance and 
hypocrisy everywhere, but especially among the monks. 
Nevertheless he expected reform to come as the result of 
a campaign of education and was opposed to the rup- 
ture with the Church made by Luther, though the latter 
maintained that he was merely realizing the teachings of 
Erasmus. 

Influence of Erasmus. — Erasmus' influence was exer- 
cised in several ways: (1) in his teaching in the uni- 

123 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

versities; (2) in his vast correspondence with scholars 
everywhere; and (3) in the numerous books that he 
wrote. His written works, which are all in the Latin 
language, fall iuto two general classes: religious and 
educational. In order to provide men with an ac- 
curate knowledge of the Scriptures and of the Church 
Fathers, he published first an edition of the New Testa- 
ment in Greek and later a translation into Latin, and also 
edited the works of St. Jerome and some of the Greek 
Fathers. Even his educational writings were intended 
for reform purposes, and some of them were satires. 
His ** Colloquies, " which was used as a textbook in the 
new schools that were arising, consisted in part of dia- 
logues that satirized social evils existing. His *' Praise 
of Folly ' ' was a satire directed against the corrupt prac- 
tices that prevailed among the monks. ''The Cicero- 
nians'' was another satire upon the narrow humanists 
who were already restricting the New Learning to a 
formal study of Cicero and his works. 

Not all his educational works were satires, however. 
In his "Liberal Education of Children," and *'0n the 
Order of Study, ' ' Erasmus makes admirable suggestions 
in regard to the education of children. The importance 
of studying the character of the child, the place of play 
and games, the opposition to brutal discipline, the 
methods of teaching grammar and literature, all receive 
careful and wise consideration. The importance of 
keeping education in vital association with the needs of 
society and of securing the necessary knowledge to that 
end by the study of a large number of classical authors 
was strongly urged by Erasmus. Finally he was one 
of those who believed that women should have the same 
educational advantages as men. His fine influence upon 
the content and method of teaching prevailed thru- 

124 



THE RENAISSANCE 

out Europe and was reflected for a long time in the 
works put forth by scholars in every country. 

The German Gymnasium. — An educational movement 
of such extent and influence as the Renaissance in the 
North would inevitably become organized into an in- 
stitution. In fact schools of various kinds arose at first 
in Teutonic countries before they became standardized in 
the Gymnasium. Of the other schools the most important 
were the FilrstenscJmlen (princes' schools) modeled 
upon the court schools of Italy and intended to educate 
leaders in church and state. They in turn were merged 
in the Gymnasium system, which became the very core 
of the educational organization of Teutonic countries and 
has remained so to this day. With organization the 
spirit of the Renaissance movement underwent a great 
change. The early Renaissance scholars were enthusi- 
astic over the classical literatures chiefly because of the 
value and beauty of the content. The Latin and Greek 
languages were to be studied as a means to an end. But 
with the necessity of organizing school classes and of 
grading subject matter in difficulty, an undue emphasis 
was placed upon the linguistic side of the classics, which 
resulted in a formalizing of school work ; and had a very 
deadening influence upon education. Lists of Latin 
words and phrases, a careful stud3| of the intricacies of 
grammar, syntax, and prosody became the first burden 
of the pupil. The boy entered the Gymnasium at about 
nine years of age without a knowledge of the vernacular 
grammar and was at once plunged into a study of the 
grammar of a foreign language, and, what is more, a 
grammar written in that language. The resulting bur- 
den upon the memory is evident, and learning by heart, 
of necessity, became the chief method of study. Instead 
of the wide range of classical authors recommended by 

125 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

the early humanists, the work of the Gymnasmm was 
confined to the thoro study of a few. In fact in some 
places the aim of education was to develop in the indi- 
vidual the ability to read, write, and speak Latin with 
Cicero as a model. A fine style, a correct form of ex- 
pression, was the desideratum, and by the end of the 
sixteenth century the old scholasticism with Aristotle as 
master and dialectics as content had given way before 
a no less narrow scholasticism with Cicero as master and 
linguistics as content. To treat the child mind as an 
adult mind, to organize grammar in the purely logical 
manner fit for the latter, meant to kill interest in 
study and to enforce discipline by harsh measures. This 
system prevailed thruout Europe in the Protestant 
Gymnasium and in the Jesuit college during the seven- 
teenth and eighteenth centuries and made a dreary 
period, indeed, in the history of education. 

Johann Sturm (1507-1589). — The Gymnasium in most 
cases was not a boarding school, but a pay school organ- 
ized under municipal control. It developed independ- 
ently in a number of places, but the Gymnasium founded 
by Johann Sturm at Strassburg in 1537 is typical. 
Sturm was one of the narrow humanists who did more 
than any other individual to standardize the work of 

the new school. He had a great influence thruout Ger- 

Ik 

many as the result of the publication of his textbooks 
and the training of teachers in his Gymnasium, and his 
advice was frequently sought by princes and cities in the 
organization of institutions. His school was attended by 
large numbers of students, many of them nobles, and 
became a model that was freely imitated. It was organ- 
ized into ten classes — the Gymnasium was afterwards re- 
duced to nine — and attention was devoted almost exclu- 
sively to Latin and Greek. The vernacular was wholly 

126 



THE RENAISSANCE 

neglected as was also physical training ; no mathematics 
or natural science found a place in the curriculum and 
no attempt was made to relate the school to the social 
needs of the time. Emphasis was laid upon the life of a 
past era with the difference that formalism had killed the 
esthetic spirit which had characterized that life. 

The Eenaissance in England. — The New Learning had 
been received with enthusiasm in England. Some fine 
English scholars visited Italy to study Greek, and upon 
their return brought with them other distinguished 
scholars, like Erasmus, who was the first professor of 
Greek at Cambridge. The court of Henry VIII was 
strongly affected by the movement and humanism re- 
ceived powerful support from Sir Thomas More and 
Cardinal Wolsey. 

Eoger Ascham. — One result of the movement in Eng- 
land was the educational treatise of Roger Ascham, pro- 
fessor of Greek at Cambridge and tutor in the classics to 
Queen Elizabeth. This book, called "The Scholemas- 
ter, ' ' gives the typical humanistic view of education, but 
condemns some of the practices prevailing in the schools, 
such as brutal corporal punishment. It is chiefly de- 
voted to a description of the best method of teaching 
Latin and Greek. Ascham 's method was an improve- 
ment upon the one prevailing in English schools, its 
chief characteristic being the "double translation. ' ' 
The pupil was required to translate a passage into Eng- 
lish and then an hour later to retranslate it into the 
original. The master then compared it with the text. 
Ascham 's book had practically no influence upon the 
schools either in discipline or methods of teaching. 

John Colet. — One of the most influential of the human- 
ists in England was John Colet, dean of St. Paul's. In 
1509 he founded, upon a humanistic basis, St. Paul's 

127 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

School, which was typical of the best results of the 
Renaissance in the North, emphasizing religion and the 
classics in its curriculum. Colet had hoped to secure 
Erasmus as its first headmaster; but Erasmus recom- 
mended William Lilly, who later wrote a Latin grammar 
that was used in England well into the nineteenth cen- 
tury. Some of the aristocratic private schools of Eng- 
land — known as ''public schools" because independent 
of both Church and state — and many of the grammar 
schools which survived the Reformation, as well as many 
new foundations, were modeled upon St. Paul 's. But by 
the beginning of the seventeenth century the work of 
these humanistic schools had become more narrow and 
formal than that of the Gymnasium in Germany and they 
remained divorced from the affairs of practical life until 
the investigation of the Royal Commission of 1864. More- 
over, when the colonists left England to settle in Amer- 
ica, they naturally brought with them the educational 
institution with which they were familiar. We find a 
Latin grammar school in Boston as early as 1635 and 
similar secondary schools spread thruout the colonies. 
Like their prototypes in England they gave an educa- 
tion in the classics and the New Testament in prepara- 
tion for the college course which was to train their stu- 
dents, in the northern colonies at least, for the ministry, 

-. BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Articles in the Cyclopedia of Education on the Renaissance, 
Brethren of the Common Life, the Gymnasium, the Court 
School, Cieeronianism, and individual educators like Da Feltre, 
Erasmus, Colet, Ascham, etc. 

Catholic Encyclopedia. Similar articles. 

CuBBERLEY, E. P. Syllabus in the History of Education. 
Chaps. XXI-XXII. 

128 



THE RENAISSANCE 

Graves, F. P. A History of Education. Vol. II, Chaps. 
XII-XIV. 

Monroe, P. Textbook in the History of Education. Chap. 
YI. 

Quick, R. H. Educational Reformers. Chaps. I-III. 

Russell, J. E. German Higher Schools. Chap. II. 

Woodward, W. H. Education During the Renaissance. 

QUESTIONS, COMPARISONS, AND TOPICS FOR 
FURTHER STUDY 

1. Compare the influence of the Sophists in Greece with 
that of the wandering hiunanistic scholars from Italy in 
northern Europe. 

2. Compare the influence upon intell-ectual life made by 
the Revival of Learning in the fifteenth century with that 
made by the scientific discoveries of the nineteenth century. 

3. Compare the absorption of Hellenic civilization by the 
Romans with the absorption of Greco-Roman civilization by 
western Europe in the Renaissance. 

4. Compare the school of Isocrates at Athens in 390 B.C. 
with that of Vittorino da Feltre at Mantua a.d. 1440. 

5. In what respect can Erasmus and other humanistic 
students of the Bible and of the Church Fathers be considered 
the forerunners of the higher criticism of today? 

6. To what extent can the Renaissance in Italy be con- 
sidered a patriotic revival? 

7. What reasons can be adduced to explain why the 
Renaissance movement in the North should have been char- 
acterized by a reform aspect so much more than in Italy? 

8. Point out the resemblances and differences between the 
Renaissance movement in northern Europe and the movement 
for social reform in the United States at the present time. 

9. Compare the views of Erasmus with those of Quintilian 
on the early education of children. 

10. What elements of his curriculum did Da Feltre borrow 
from the Greeks? From the knights? From the Church? 

129 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

11. Compare the influence of the sojourn of American 
students at German universities today upon culture and edu- 
cation in the United States with the influence of the sojourn 
of English students at Italian schools during the early 
Renaissance upon English culture and education. 

12. Compare the attitude of the Church towards the New 
Learning in the fifteenth century with the attitude today of 
the Church (Protestant and Catholic) towards such biological 
theories as evolution. 

13. Is there much likelihood that vocational subjects will 
drive the humanistic subjects out of education today as the 
humanities drove the divinities out of education in the 
Renaissance? 



CHAPTER IX 
EELIGIOUS FOEMALISM IN EDUCATION 

Outline. — The Reformation emphasis upon a knowledge of 
the Bible as necessary to eternal salvation had as an educa- 
tional corollary an ability at least to read it, and this was a 
stimulus toward universal elementary education. To secure 
that end Luther in his letters and sermons advocated state- 
supported schools, which should have new elements in their 
work. 

Melanchthon aimed to make the Reformation acceptable to 
the learned of Germany and first organized Protestant educa- 
tion in the Saxony school plan. The educational ideas of 
John Calvin had great influence in Switzerland, the Nether- 
lands, Scotland, Huguenot France, Puritan England and 
America. 

The Jesuits organized Catholic secondary education in their 
"inferior" colleges upon a narrow humanistic basis, and higher 
education in their "superior" colleges with philosophy and 
theology as content. The "Ratio Studiorum" prescribes in 
detail the content and method of work, the discipline, the 
training of teachers, etc. Adherence to its prescriptions re- 
sulted in remarkable success. But it delayed the Jesuits in 
organizing their schools to meet new conditions. 

The Jausenists of Port Royal appealed to the understanding 
rather than to the memory, hence they taught in the ver- 
nacular. They also added mathematics and logic to the 
curriculum, and made reforms in methods of teaching and in 
discipline. 

Elementary education was well organized for the Catholics 
by the Institute of the Christian Brothers founded by La 

131 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

Salle m 1684. They also introduced the class recitation system 
and provided for the training of elementary school teachers, 
two notable reforms. 



A. THE PROTESTANT REVOLT 

The Reformation the Outcome of the Renaissance. — 

The complaint of Luther that he had but hatched the 
egg laid by Erasmus and the retort of Erasmus that he 
had laid only a hen's egg but that Luther had hatched 
a game-cock indicates the close relation between the 
Renaissance and the Reformation. The Renaissance 
leaders emphasized the individual's place in life. Social 
control as exercised through human institutions had 
gone so far, they found, as to leave little opportunity for 
the free expression of individuality in any direction. 
The humanists emphasized human reason as the individ- 
ual's guide in life. They adopted a critical attitude to- 
wards whatever rested upon mere authority, and showed 
scant respect for tradition. The Reformation completed 
the work of the Renaissance in exalting the intrinsic 
worth of the individual. It was impossible that an insti- 
tution like the Church, which had guided and controlled 
the lives of men for a thousand years, should escape the 
critical and investigative spirit of the times. The Church 
had acquired great wealth and power and undoubtedly 
abuses existed in its administration. We find, therefore, 
that even before Luther 's revolt practically every human- 
ist had made insistent demands for reforms in the 
Church. At first the reforms demanded were of a moral 
nature : that the clergy lead better lives, that high church- 
men perform the duties that were attached to their big 
incomes, that the monasteries especially give some evi- 
dence of social utility. But with the zeal of the human- 

132 



RELIGIOUS FORMALISM IN EDUCATION 

ists, with their mania for the study of original sources of 
the Old and New Testaments and the Church Fathers, 
it was inevitable that the doctrines and practices of the 
Church should be questioned. 

The Reformation Principles. — All the reformers, there- 
fore, were humanists, Luther the least of them. In the 
new education religion was to provide the purpose, hu- 
manism the content. Whatever their divergences of be- 
lief might be, the reformers at first agreed upon two 
things: (1) that the Bible, not the Church, was the infal- 
lible rule of faith and practice, the guide to what one 
should believe and how one should live ; (2) that the indi- 
vidual must interpret for himself what was in the Bible. 
This placed a splendid emphasis upon human reason and, 
had the Protestant leaders remained true to their first 
principles, western civilization might have been advanced 
a century beyond what it is today. But the promise of 
the Reformation was not realized. With the multiplica- 
tion of sects each hating each other as much as they hated 
the old church, with social excesses like the Peasants' 
Revolt, which it was claimed was the fruit of the reform 
preaching, the right of reason to determine faith became 
more and more denied until it existed nowhere in 
Europe, among either Protestants or Catholics. The in- 
terference of the Church continued in things extra-relig- 
ious, in questions of politics, science and philosophy, 
where reason alone should guide. Nevertheless a door 
had been opened which could not be shut, ideas had 
been promulgated which were destined eventually to have 
great results, and there were some immediate effects of 
direct and lasting benefit. 

The Educational Significance of These Principles. — 
The principle that eternal salvation, which was the chief 
concern of people in the sixteenth century, depended 

133 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

upon following the precepts of the Bible had certain 
natural educational consequences, (1) The first of these 
was that people were able to read the Bible. This 
meant an enormously increased reading public receiving 
their culture chiefly from that book. The invention of 
printing advanced the cause of the reformers immensely, 
as it had that of the humanists. It is to be noted that, 
whereas previous to the Reformation nearly all the books 
printed were in Latin and Greek, after it the majority 
were in the vernacular tongues. (2) A second conse- 
quence was an emphasis upon the vernacular languages, 
for the Bible had to be rendered into the vernacular in 
order to reach the people. There were other German edi- 
tions of the Bible printed before Luther 's, but in dialects 
not widely spoken. Luther set the standard for the 
literary German of the future. Calvin's ''Institutes of 
the Christian Religion" helped make the standard for 
French prose, and Tyndale 's New Testament for English. 
(3) A third consequence was a demand for the extension 
of elementary schools in which at least the ability to 
read the Bible should be given — ^to girls as well as to 
boys, since they also had souls to save. It can hardly be 
questioned, however, that the generation after the Refor- 
mation in Germany was not so well provided with ele- 
mentary schools as the generation before, because the 
first necessity was to train religious leaders and that 
meant to turn attention to the Latin schools. But a new 
and compelling basis for elementary education was pro- 
vided. 

These consequences were the natural outcome of the 
life and work of Martin Luther. 

Martin Luther (1483-1546). — Luther was a miner's 
son. His father was able to give him a good education 
and sent him at eighteen to the University of Erfurt to 

134 



RELIGIOUS FORMALISM IN EDUCATION 

study law. But at twenty-two he became a monk and 
at twenty-five was appointed a teacher of philosophy at 
Wittenberg. It was during his incumbency of this posi- 
tion that he worked out his doctrine of justification by 
faith, viz., that man cannot be saved by ''good works,'* 
such as penance and fasting, but by faith alone in the 
merits of Christ. He came to this conclusion thru a 
study of Augustine and primitive Christianity, and at- 
tacked the scholastic theology and Aristotle with great 
vigor. It can hardly be doubted that Luther had no in- 
tention at first of breaking with the Church, but was led 
by circumstances from one radical step to another. In 
the latter part of his career he became exceedingly con- 
servative. Whereas he maintained in his early days that 
''surely what is contrary to reason is contrary to God," 
after he had established his position he held that "the 
more subtle and acute reason is, the more poisonous a 
beast it is. ' ' 

Educational Work of Luther. — Luther's first educa- 
tional influence was thru his translation of the Bible 
into German, his publication of catechisms, one for chil- 
dren and the other for adults, and his composition of 
hymns. These provided the entire German people with 
material for reading and devotion in church and at 
home, and had a pronounced cultural effect. More spe- 
cifically his influence upon education was made thru his 
"Letter to the Mayors and Aldermen of All Cities of 
Germany in Behalf of Christian Schools" and his "Ser- 
mon on the Duty of Sending Children to School." In 
these two statements we find definite opinions in favor 
of positions which mark a real advance. (1) The first 
of these positions was that the state should support and 
control elementary schools, to which parents should 
be compelled to send their children. This was as 

135 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

necessary for the welfare of the state as for the salvation 
of the child. In order that all children — boys and girls 
— might attend these schools, they were to be so organized 
that the children might attend an hour or two a day 
and devote to their practical duties the rest of the day. 
(2) The second progressive step which he advocated was 
that the work of these schools should be carried on in 
the vernacular, and in addition to imparting the ele- 
ments, they should have as their chief aim to give a 
direct knowledge of the Bible. (3) The third was that 
the brighter pupils, *'who give promise of becoming ac- 
complished teachers, preachers, and workers, ' ' be given a 
humanistic education in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. 
But he improved upon the practice of the humanists by 
demanding that history, natural science, music, and gym- 
nastics also have a place in the curriculum. Moreover, 
he made some excellent pedagogic suggestions, such as 
to teach a foreign language by practice rather than 
thru grammar, to allow for the natural activity of chil- 
dren, and to deal with concrete things. Nevertheless, 
his suggestions about schools were by no means gen- 
erally realized in practice. 

Philip Melanchthon (1497-1560). — Luther's work was 
primarily religious and only incidentally educational. 
His educational views were realized in part by his dis- 
ciples, especially by Philip Melanchthon. Melanchthon 
was a grand-nephew of the Hebrew scholar Reuchlin, 
and he had a splendid training in the New Learning, be- 
coming, indeed, its chief exponent in Germany. So great 
was his influence upon educational development that by 
general consent he received the title of Praeceptor Ger- 
maniae, i. e.. Instructor of Germany, This title was fully 
deserved, (1) for Melanchthon was the most popular pro- 
fessor at Wittenberg and his lectures on Protestant the- 

136 



RELIGIOUS FORMALISM IN EDUCATION 

ology, which he was the first to formulate, drew hun- 
dreds of students to the University. (2) His students 
became teachers in most of the universities and Gymna- 
sien of Protestant Germany, for no one's advice on edu- 
cational matters was sought by princes and cities so much 
as his. (3) His textbooks on Latin grammar and Greek 
grammar were almost universally used in German 
schools, and his texts in other subjects, especially dialec- 
tics, rhetoric, and ethics, were highly valued. (4) 
Finally, in 1528, he was requested by the Elector of 
Saxony to organize the schools of that state. The Saxony 
school plan which he formulated provided for a Latin 
school in every town and village of the Electorate. From 
these municipal schools, modified by Sturm ^ and others, 
eventually was evolved the Gymnasium, which, as has 
been said, became the very core of the German educa- 
tional system. The Saxony school system, which was the 
first state school system in history, was much improved 
upon by the Wiirtemburg plan of 1559. For while the 
Saxony plan dealt only with secondary schools, the 
Wiirtemburg plan provided a comprehensive educational 
system, from vernacular schools teaching reading, writ- 
ing, counting, sacred music, and religion, thru Latin 
schools of six classes teaching the classics, up to the uni- 
versity. The Wiirtemburg plan was gradually adopted 
with modifications by the other German states. It is 
to be remembered that the narrow humanism elaborated 
by Sturm at Strassburg differed only in extent from that 
of Melanchthon. Melanchthon was the best representa- 
tive of the union of humanist and Protestant in northern 
Europe. He succeeded in making the Reformation ac- 
ceptable to the learned as Luther had made it acceptable 
to the common people. 
'See p. 126. 

137 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

Influence of John Calvin. — Luther's influence was by 
no means so international as that of John Calvin, who 
was the first Protestant to organize an elaborate system 
of theology. Geneva under him became a Protestant 
Rome to which exiles from France, England, Holland, 
and Scotland fled. They brought back to their home 
countries the Reformed instead of the Lutheran faith, 
as well as the educational ideals which prevailed at 
Geneva. Calvin established colleges at Geneva and else- 
where in Switzerland and succeeded in inducing Cor- 
derius, one of the most distinguished humanists at Paris, 
to go to Geneva to help organize and to teach in them. 
These colleges were similar to the humanistic secondary 
schools of Germany, combining the teaching of religion 
and the classics. They were widely copied by the Hugue- 
nots in France and by the Dutch. The greatest educa- 
tional influence of Geneva, however, was upon Scotland 
thru John Knox. He succeeded in establishing the 
free elementary schools under the control of the parishes, 
which have done so much for the enlightenment of the 
Scotch people. 

The Keformation in England. — Tho the English hu- 
manists like Sir Thomas More and John Colet had de- 
manded reforms in the Church, the Reformation in Eng- 
land was far more a political than a religious move- 
ment. Henry VIII never accepted the religious princi- 
ples of the Reformation; and the Puritans, not the 
Church of England, were its true exponents and spiritual 
representatives. Hence the destruction of the monastic 
and chantry schools, which accompanied the suppression 
of the monasteries, was disastrous for education in Eng- 
land. Not all of the wealth secured in that way by 
Henry VIII and Edward VI was used for the establish- 
ment of Protestant schools. Tho some repair of the evil 

138 



RELIGIOUS FORMALISM IN EDUCATION 

was made in secondary education in the reign of Eliza- 
beth and the first two Stuarts by the founding of new 
grammar schools, practically nothing was done in ele- 
mentary education. England remained two centuries 
behind other Protestant countries in providing ade- 
quately for either secondary or elementary education. 
This was partly due to the fact that, whereas Germany 
tended toward a state educational system, England 
tended toward a church educational system. The schools 
that withstood the shock of the Reformation and the 
new schools that continued to be founded, until the Civil 
War put an end to the movement, retained the old admin- 
istrative machinery, adopted the narrow humanistic cur- 
riculum, and substituted the Anglican for the Catholic 
faith. In America the Puritans who settled New England 
and the Huguenots and Dutch Reformed who settled in 
other colonies north of Virginia realized Protestant prin- 
ciples by the establishment of both elementary and sec- 
ondary schools which were thoroly religious in char- 
acter. The secondary schools, as already stated, com- 
bined religious with classical training and aimed at the 
preparation of Christian ministers. In the Southern 
colonies, where the Church of England was supreme, 
comparatively little was done for the cause of education. 
Formalisiii in the Protestant Schools. — The formalism 
which even previously had begun to characterize the 
humanistic schools was much intensified by the Reforma- 
tion. Christianity became identified again with theology. 
Subscription to a creed rather than right living was the 
evidence of a man's religion. To inculcate that creed in 
the young was the first task of education, and the cate- 
chism was added to the Latin grammar as an instrument 
of torture upon the helpless schoolboy. To memorize it, 
as well as large parts of the gospels and epistles, was as 

139 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

necessary as to know by heart large portions of the 
classics. The methods of teaching became even more 
rigid, the discipline even more severe, the divorce from 
practical life in content of study even more pronounced. 
As a rule, the Protestant school of the seventeenth cen- 
tury was a place of gloom and even terror for childhood. 
The religious scholasticism differed from that of the thir- 
teenth century in content but not in spirit. 

B. THE CATHOLIC REACTION 

The Council of Trent. — Luther's revolt accelerated the 
attempts at reform within the Catholic Church, which 
culminated in the Council of Trent (1545-1563). This 
council did a remarkable piece of work in eliminating 
the abuses which had given most offense, in carefully 
defining articles of faith with respect to which there 
had been any uncertainty, and in making regulations 
regarding education. The work of the Renaissance had 
been essentially a campaign of education against the pre- 
vailing ignorance. The Reformation leaders had relied 
upon education as the chief instrument to advance their 
cause. The old church determined to use the same in- 
strument in its work of rejuvenescence. Several teach- 
ing congregations were founded, the most important of 
which was the Society of Jesus. 

Origin of the Jesuit Order. — Ignatius Loyola (1491- 
1556) , the founder of the Society of Jesus, was a Spanish 
nobleman who, while convalescing from a wound received 
in battle, was converted to a religious life by reading 
the lives of Christ and the saints. He determined to 
become a soldier of Christ, and in order to secure the 
necessary education spent eleven years in schools and 
universities, finally securing the master 's degree at Paris. 

140 



RELIGIOUS FORMALISM IN EDUCATION 

While at Paris he interested the six men who formed 
the nucleus of his order. In 1540 two of them accom- 
panied him to Rome, where they secured the approval of 
the Pope for the organization of the society. 

The principle of the Reformation had been the exalta- 
tion of the individual; that of the Jesuits was his sup- 
pression. The Reformation, tho it did not in fact ad- 
here to the principle, had at least proclaimed the re- 
lease of the individual from institutional control ; the 
Jesuits demanded his complete subjection to institutional 
control. Loyola had been a soldier and he organized his 
society upon a military basis. Unquestioned obedience 
to authority was the fundamental doctrine. The consti- 
tution, which was prepared by Loyola himself, places at 
the head of the society a "general," who is elected for 
life, has immense powers, and who resides at Rome. The 
countries in which the society works are divided into 
provinces, at the head of each of which is a "provin- 
cial" appointed by the general. Each college in a prov- 
ince has at its head a rector, appointed by the general 
but responsible to the provincial. Responsible to the 
rector but appointed by the provincial are the prefects 
of study and of discipline, who supervise the work of 
professors and preceptors. The organization, like the 
Constitution of the United States, is one of checks and 
balances intended to make change difficult of attainment. 

The "Ratio Studiorum." — The aim of the society is 
best expressed in its motto ''Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam" 
(A. M. D. G.), i. e., everj^thing to the greater glory of 
God. As the Church was God's chosen instrument, 
the motto meant, humanly speaking, everything to the 
greater glory of the Church. This was to be accom- 
plished by three methods : preaching, teaching, and con- 
fessing. The order was organized to perform these func- 

141 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

tions primarily among the heathen and in Catholic coun- 
tries, but in practice it not only accomplished its work 
in those places, but became the chief instrument of the 
Church in regaining lands and souls lost thru the 
Protestant Revolt. The constitution consists of ten parts, 
of which the longest is the one dealing with educational 
matters. In 1584 the general appointed a commission to 
organize a plan of work which, when completed, was to be 
submitted to the ablest teachers of the provinces. This 
commission studied the best educational systems of the 
times, Catholic and Protestant, and its work received the 
most careful revision as the result of the criticism of the 
teachers of the order. When the ' * Ratio Studiorum, ' ' i. e., 
the method of studies, was published in 1599, as an 
expansion of part four of the constitution, it embodied 
not only the best thought, but the results of forty years 
of experience in educational work. It provides in great 
detail for the administration of the college, the content 
of study, the methods of teaching, discipline, in fact, 
everything that has to do with education. 

The Jesuit Colleges. — The Jesuits did not engage in 
elementary education, their purpose being to train lead- 
ers. Their colleges were divided into lower and upper 
colleges. The lower college gave a humanistic education 
similar to that given in the Protestant Gymnasium. The 
study of Latin from the narrow Ciceronian point of view 
formed the chief content, there being but little Greek. 
History, geography, science, and mathematics were given 
under the title *' erudition, " but only as necessary to 
understanding of the classical authors studied. Boys 
were admitted to the lower college at the age of ten to 
fourteen, and the course was usually six years. In the 
upper college, which corresponded to the existing uni- 
versity, the first three years were devoted to philosophy, 

142 



RELIGIOUS FORMALISM IN EDUCATION 

with Aristotle as guide, and the last four to theology, 
with Thomas Aquinas as master. An additional two 
years could be elected by those intending to prepare a 
thesis for the doctor 's degree. This organization of work 
remained practically without change until the suppres- 
sion of the order in 1773. When the society was revived 
in 1814 the need of a new content was manifest, and the 
** Ratio Studiorum" was revised in 1832. Altho the 
classics continued to be the important element of the 
course in the lower colleges, provision was made for 
mathematics, the sciences, modern languages, and physi- 
cal training. Since 1906 the *' Ratio Studiorum" is not 
binding uniformly in regard to content and method of 
work, but each province is to decide upon the curriculum 
according to its peculiar needs. 

The educational success of the society was almost in- 
stantaneous. The Jesuits were besought by bishops 
everywhere to open colleges in their dioceses. Within a 
century they had a practical monopoly of higher educa- 
tion in Catholic countries and had made great headway 
in Protestant countries wherever they were permitted 
to reside. When the society was suppressed in 1773 it 
had more than seven hundred institutions, two hundred 
thousand students, and twenty thousand members. From 
the very beginning the graduates of the Jesuit colleges 
occupied the highest positions in the Church, in the state, 
and in the professions ; and the Jesuits were feared and 
hated by the Protestants as their most dangerous en- 
emies. They chiefly were responsible for the reconquest 
of southern and western Germany to the Catholic faith 
and for its maintenance in France and in other countries. 

Causes of Their Success. — The great success of the 
Jesuits was due to certain well-defined causes, among 
which were the following : 

143 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

1. Their splendid organization, which resulted in the 
education that they gave being thoro. This was true of 
certain of the Protestant Gymnasien, like Sturm's, but 
it was true of all the Jesuit colleges. Moreover, their 
organization made for uniformity. A Jesuit teaching 
at Lisbon in the seventeenth century might be trans- 
ferred to a similar class at Cologne and continue the 
work there as if he were still teaching in Lisbon. 

2. Their gratuitous instruction. Education was abso- 
lutely free to all. A good Protestant Gymnasium in de- 
batable territory had to pay decent salaries to its excel- 
lent teachers, who might have families to support. This 
necessitated charging high fees. If a Jesuit college was 
established there, as usually happened, the advantage it 
had over its opponent is obvious. Even many Prot- 
estants would send their children to it. 

3. Their excellently trained teachers. The Jesuits 
were always on the lookout for particularly able youths 
to become novices of the society. Before such a selected 
youth became a teacher in the lower college, he had to 
complete at least the course in philosophy in the upp^r 
college ; and to teach in the upper college, he must have 
completed the course in theology. As early as 1565 the 
society caused to be established in each province one semi- 
nary for the training of teachers, which the future 
teacher attended two years. When teaching in the lower 
college he was under the careful supervision of the pre- 
fect of studies. 

4. Their methods of teaching. These aimed at doing 
at any one time a small amount of work intensively and 
making sure it was well done and retained. It resulted 
in their emphasizing: 

a. Oral Instruction. This was called the *' prelection*' 
and consisted in a lecture in the upper college and an 

144 



RELIGIOUS FORMALISM IN EDUCATION 

explanation in the lower. A short passage of an author 
would receive a first explanation to obtain its general 
meaning; a second for its grammatical construction; a 
third for ''erudition," i. e., to explain historical, geo- 
graphical, or other allusions ; a fourth explanation of its 
rhetorical elements ; a fifth of any moral influence to be 
drawn ; and a sixth, ' ' a comparative study of the Latin- 
ity." It should be noted that the Jesuits wrote most of 
their own textbooks and used carefully expurgated edi- 
tions of the classics. 

b. Memorizing. The emphasis upon this is evident 
from what has been said of the "prelection." ''Repe- 
titio mater studiorum est" (Repetition is the mother of 
studies), was one of the mottoes of the society. 

c. Reviews. Constant reviews attended their work. 
Each day began with a review of the work of the day be- 
fore ; each week ended with a review of the work of the 
week; and the last month of the year was given to a 
review of the work of the year. 

5. Their methods of discipline. At a time when cor- 
poral punishment was the favorite method of securing 
good conduct and the chief stimulus to study, the Jesuits 
practically abolished it in their schools. It was used 
only as a last resort and never inflicted by a teacher. In 
its stead they used prizes and emulation. They carried 
emulation to such an extent that every pupil had his 
* * rival, ' ' with whom he was to compete in lessons and in 
conduct. Often the boys were divided into sides and 
engaged in a * ' concertation, " i. e., a debate upon some 
feature of the lesson in grammar or rhetoric; and the 
side that won would be given some prize or granted some 
privilege. Voluntary societies called "academies" exist- 
ed in each college, to which the most virtuous and tal- 
ented students were admitted, and in which orations, dec- 

145 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

lamations and debates were practiced. Dramatics, to 
train in speaking and acting, which were also a feature of 
the best Protestant schools, were much emphasized in the 
Jesuit schools. Games and physical training were en- 
couraged for physical welfare. 

Criticism of Jesuit Education. — To describe the con- 
duct of work of a Jesuit school is to state its good side. 
Briefly the work was thoro, systematic, efficient. The 
teachers aimed to make school work pleasant and they 
succeeded. Without question they were the best teachers 
of the seventeenth century and continued to be so as long 
as the humanistic content of schools remained socially 
useful. But their system was so rigid that they were not 
so able to conform to new conditions as the Protestant 
school systems — which is saying very little. They were 
doing practically the same thing in the same way in 1773, 
when they were suppressed, that they had been doing 
a century and a half before, at the height of their influ- 
ence. In the paucity of content, i. e., almost exclusive 
devotion to Latin, and in their formalism in method 
they erred in common with the Protestant schools. And 
their emphasis upon memory work at the expense of an 
appeal to the reason was characteristic of all Ciceronian- 
ism. But their excessive use of emulation must often 
have aroused bitter feeling ; and their concertations and 
disputations must have appealed powerfully to the love 
of display. 

The Jansenists of Port Eoyal. — Tho the Jesuits 
secured a practical monopoly of higher education in 
Catholic countries during the seventeenth century, this 
monopoly did not exist without opposition. The most 
important reaction against the Jesuit system was that 
of the Jansenists of Port Royal. These were followers 
of Bishop Jansen, a Dutch bishop whose studies of St. 

146 



RELIGIOUS FORMALISM IN EDUCATION 

Augustine had led him to a statement of doctrines re- 
sembling those of Calvin. Tho his doctrines fell 
under the ban of the Church, his followers remained 
within the fold. A number of the most prominent and 
distinguished of these, under the leadership of the Abbe 
de St. Cyran, settled at Port Royal, near Versailles, to 
devote themselves to prayer and study. In addition to 
their religious devotions, manual labor, and works of 
charity, these solitaires engaged in educational labors 
which were marked by a number of distinct advances 
over the prevailing methods. 

The "Little Schools" of Port Royal (1637-1660).— De- 
spite their acceptance of the rationalistic philosophy of 
Descartes they held to the belief that human nature is 
essentially bad. The child left to his own inclinations 
and impulses tends to evil, hence he must be brought up 
in an atmosphere of piety and in constant association 
with his teacher. Only thus can the sole end of educa- 
tion be attained, viz., to develop the moral and religious 
character of the child. For this reason the ''little 
schools'* never numbered more than fifty pupils, usually 
not more than twenty-five; and a teacher seldom had 
charge of more than six pupils. These ''Gentlemen of 
Port Royal ' ' had associated with them a number of rare 
women who gave an education to girls similar to that 
received by the boys. Pupils were usually admitted to 
the schools at about ten and remained until sixteen or 
seventeen. The schools existed altogether but twenty- 
four years. The first was established at Port Royal in 
1637, and all of them were suppressed in 1660 by Louis 
XIV, at the instigation of the Jesuits. 

Educational Principles of the Jansenists. — The Port 
Royalists did not rise above the prevailing practice of 
overemphasizing the literary element in education. They 

147 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

neglected science and made no place for physical train- 
ing. But they predicated as their fundamental principle 
that children should study only what they understand. 
From this principle certain practices naturally followed, 
among which were : 

1. Instruction must begin with the vernacular, in the 
teaching of which they made a great advance by using 
phonic methods in reading instead of the prevailing 
alphabetic method. 

2. Giving an introductory survey of classical litera- 
ture by means of translations. After study of the Latin 
language was begun a wide selection of authors was 
made, to get the content of the classics ; and only so much 
grammar as was necessary to an understanding of them. 

3. Teaching mathematics as a good training for the 
understanding. This was followed by the study of logic. 

4. Compiling new textbooks to carry out their idea 
of appealing to the reason instead of the memory. The 
*'Port Royal Geometry" and the ''Port Royal Logic" 
were used in schools long after the suppression of the 
*' little schools." 

5. Relying entirely upon the affection of the child and 
the zeal of the teacher as a method of discipline. The 
Port Royalists not only rejected corporal punishment but 
condemned the emulation of the Jesuits even more se- 
verely, as not consistent with the development of a moral 
and pious character. 

The practices just described were distinct advances 
upon those in use at the time. It was a pity that they 
were made use of in an atmosphere of excessive piety 
which must have chiUed a good deal of the natural spon- 
taneity of childhood. The great influence exerted by the 
Port Royalists came not so much thru their school work 
as thru their activity after their suppression. They 

148 



RELIGIOUS FORMALISM IN EDUCATION 

produced many treatises on various aspects of education, 
which had a profound influence. When we mention the 
names of Pascal, La Fontaine, Rollin, and Racine as some 
of the many eminent Port Royalists, we can understand 
why their influence was so disproportionate to their num- 
bers. 

La Salle and the Christian Brothers. — The Jansenists, 
like the Jesuits, were primarily interested in secondary 
and higher education. As already stated, this was char- 
acteristic of the period of religious controversy. By the 
end of the seventeenth century the Protestants in Ger- 
many, Holland, and Scotland had organized systems of 
elementary education which gave a knowledge of the 
rudiments at least. In Catholic countries, tho desultory 
attempts at providing elementary education had been 
made, real progress dates from the foundation of the 
Institute of the Brethren of the Christian Schools by 
Jean Baptiste de la Salle in 1684. 

The "Conduct of Schools." — La Salle had become 
deeply interested in the education of poor children in 
Rheims, where he was a canon of the cathedral. In 1684 
he organized his Institute, which was to be devoted to 
the gratuitous teaching of the poor and to be composed 
of lay brethren, tho they were bound by the usual 
monastic vows. In order to attach his followers per- 
manently to the education of the poor. La Salle forbade 
them to teach Latin. La Salle, like Pestalozzi, was in- 
spired to educational reform by love of the poor. The 
schools at Rheims were so successful that the movement 
spread rapidly to Paris and other cities of France, tho 
because of opposition by interested parties it did not 
receive the Papal sanction until 1725, six years after La 
Salle 's death. The ' ' Conduct of Schools " is the ' ' Ratio 
Studiorum ' ' of the order. It was drawn up by La Salle 

149 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

himself, and describes in minute detail the org-anization 
and management of the school, the content of work, the 
methods of teaching, and the discipline. It leaves no 
more to the initiative of the individual teacher than did 
the ' * Ratio Studiorum. ' ' This detailed prescription was 
necessary at a time when elementary teachers were with- 
out either knowledge or training ; but it became a menace 
in the course of time. 

Work of the Schools of the Christian Brothers. — The 
content of study in the schools of the Christian Brothers 
consisted of reading, writing, elementary arithmetic, and 
religion, of which the most important was religion. The 
atmosphere of the school was as deeply pious as that of a 
Jansenist school and had as repressive an influence upon 
the pupils. At a time when the chief characteristic of 
the ordinary elementary school was noise, the Christian 
Brothers went to the other extreme in enforcing silence. 
Written work was emphasized, signals used instead of 
commands, and corporal punishment freely inflicted as 
a form of discipline. But because of two great improve- 
ments the work of the schools was superior to that of 
other elementary schools. These were : 

1. The training of teachers. The ordinary elemen- 
tary school teacher of the seventeenth century was a 
broken-down soldier, church sexton, or poor artisan, who 
eked out his meager income by whatever he could get 
''keeping school." He usually had little intelligence, no 
training of any kind, and often a bad moral influence 
upon the children who went to him. Almost from the 
beginning La Salle organized training courses for teach- 
ers, and nobody was permitted to teach who had not at- 
tended one of them. 

2. The class method of teaching. Ever^nvhere at the 
time the method of teaching used in the elementary 

150 



RELIGIOUS FORMALISM IN EDUCATION 

schools was individual instruction. In fact the teacher 
did practically no teaching, he simply heard children 
recite. In reading they sat in their seats and memorized 
as much as they could of the lesson and then repeated it 
individually to the teacher. In writing they imitated the 
copies set by the teacher until he was satisfied. In arith- 
metic they mechanically applied rules which they had 
memorized. Most of the time and effort was wasted. 
The Christian Brothers graded pupils into classes, ac- 
cording to their ability, and then provided all the chil- 
dren of a class with copies of the one book and a single 
teacher taught them simultaneously. Tho this great 
movement had already been suggested by Comenius, the 
Christian Brothers deserve the credit of applying it in 
practice on a large scale. 

Success of the Christian Brothers. — These improved 
methods account for the rapid success of the schools of 
the Christian Brothers in France. When the order was 
suppressed during the French Revolution, the Brothers 
numbered nearly one thousand, in one hundred and 
twenty-five houses, and educated over thirty-six thousand 
pupils. Moreover, La Salle had established before his 
death boarding-schools, industrial schools, and reforma- 
tories (protectories), which also slowly increased. Since 
the restoration of the order in France in 1803 its schools 
have multiplied with astonishing rapidity over the entire 
world. The ''Conduct of Schools" always admitted of 
easy revision, and the Christian Brothers in the nine- 
teenth century have made their work conform to the 
needs of the districts in which they settled. Moreover 
they have engaged not only in elementary, but in sec- 
ondary, collegiate, and even technical, commercial, and 
professional education. Nowhere have they been more 
successful than in the United States. 

151 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

The Education of Girls. — It has already been stated 
that the Protestant reformers extended to girls their 
demand that all should be taught to read the Bible. The 
Wiirtemburg plan adopted in 1559 provided for elemen- 
tary schools for all children — ^boys and girls. Weimar 
made elementary education compulsory for all in 1619, 
and in 1642 Duke Ernest the Pious, of Gotha, established 
a comprehensive system of education which foreshadowed 
the German system of today. By it all children, boys and 
girls, were compelled to attend school daily from the fifth 
to the twelfth year and parents were fined for non- 
attendance of their children. Girls received some elemen- 
tary education also in most of the other Protestant coun- 
tries, England being the most notable exception. No pro- 
vision of the same extent was made in Catholic coun- 
tries. Girls continued to be sent to convents, and in 
1535 the Ursulines were founded as an order whose pri- 
mary purpose was the education of girls. The Port 
Royalists provided some educational opportunities for 
girls, but they were by no means equal to those which 
were provided for boys. The best book up to that time, 
and one of the best of any time, on the education of girls 
was Bishop Fenelon's **0n the Education of Girls." 
Fenelon (1651-1715) had been placed in charge of the 
Convent of New Catholics, in which were taught girls 
converted from Protestantism after the revocation of the 
Edict of Nantes in 1685. While engaged in that work 
he wrote this treatise, which contains suggestions that 
were not only eminently practical, but founded upon a 
sound child psychology. It had very little influence, 
however, on the education of the day, which for girls 
as for boys continued to be repressive and dogmatic. 

Decline of Interest in Education. — As stated, the di- 
vision of Protestantism into rival sects quarreling over 

152 



RELIGIOUS FORMALISM IN EDUCATION 

trivial points of doctrine and disputing upon abstract 
and speculative matters not susceptible of proof foisted 
upon higher education a new scholasticism which became 
as much the enemy of educational progress as the old had 
been. As practically the whole of men's thought and 
energy was given to religious controversy, little remained 
to be devoted to the investigation of the problems of 
nature and society. As a knowledge of Latin was con- 
sidered by Catholics and Protestants a necessary prelim- 
inary to the study of theology, the formal study of the 
structural side of that language was made the chief work 
of the secondary school. The vernacular and the ele- 
mentary school everywhere, among Catholics and Prot- 
estants alike, found very subordinate consideration. 
"With the success of the Jesuits the bitterness between the 
adherents of the old and the new faiths increased and 
finally resulted in the Thirty Years' War. This was a 
most severe blow to education. Not only were schools 
by the hundreds ruined or closed and the resources nec- 
essary for their support destroyed, but enthusiasm for 
education itself waned. The period of the religious wars 
was essentially a period of educational stagnation. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Articles in Cyclopedia of Education on Reformation, Luther, 
Melanchthon, Jesuits, Jansenists, Christian Brothers, etc. 

Catholic Encyclopedia. Similar articles. 

CuBBERLEY, E. P. Syllabus in the History of Education. 
Chaps. XXIII-XXV, XXVII, XXVIII. 

Graves, F. P. A History of Education. Vol. II, Chaps. 
XV-XVI. 

Monroe, P. Textbook in the History of Education. Chap. 
VII. 

Painter, F. V. N. Luther on Education. 

153 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

Parker, S. C. The History of Modem Elementary Edu- 
cation. Chap. II. 
Paulsen, F. German Education, pp. 79-88. 
Quick, R. H. Educational Reformers. Chaps. III-IV, XI. 
ScHWiCKERATH, R. Jcsuit Education. 



QUESTIONS, COMPARISONS, AND TOPICS FOR 
FURTHER STUDY 

1. In what respect did the individualism of the Sophists 
in the fourth century B.C. differ from that of the Protestants 
in the sixteenth century a.d. 

2. Compare the influence of the Bible as the chief reading 
matter of the people of the sixteenth century with that of 
the daily newspaper as the chief reading matter of the people 
today. 

3. Compare the influence of Homer upon the Greeks with 
that of the Bible upon the English. 

4. Had Luther^s emphasis upon the performance of 
domestic work at home by children any relation to the modem 
movement in favor of industrial education? 

5. Compare the organization and curriculum of the Prot- 
estant Gymnasium with those of the Jesuit college. 

6. Why have the mass of the people of Scotland during 
the past two centuries been so much more intelligent than 
those of England? 

7. In what respects did the work of St. Benedict and of 
Loyola resemble each other? 

8. Arrange in the order of preference the following stimuli 
to study: corporal punishment, interest, desire to please 
parents and teachers, prizes, love of learning for its own 
sake, emulation. 

9. Is the modem emphasis on dramatization as a method 
of development of self-expression the result of the Jesuits' 
practice in giving plays? 

10. In what respects did the Port Royalist practice of 

154 



RELIGIOUS FORMALISM IN EDUCATION 

teaching Latin from translations differ from the modem prac- 
tice of using "ponies"? 

11. Why did not the Renaissance, the Reformation, or the 
Counter Reformation have better results in the higher educa- 
tion of women? 

12. State the arguments for and against giving religion 
a place in the public school cuniculum. Does the Gary plan 
effect a compromise? 

13. State the arguments for and against appropriation of 
public moneys for sectarian education. 



CHAPTER X 

EEACTION AGAINST HUMANISM— EEALISM IN 
EDUCATION 

Outline. — Formalized humanism was constantly opposed by 
reformers who demanded that education deal with the realities 
of the present life and prepare for its concrete duties. These 
realists may be classified for purposes of study into the fol- 
lowing groups: 

1. Humanistic realists, who wished to secure a knowledge 
of human society and its institutions and of nature and man's 
reactions to nature chiefly thru a study of the classics for 
their content, not their form. Milton's "Tractate on Educa- 
tion" represents this view. 

2. Social realists, who emphasized modem foreign lan- 
guages and travel for mtercourse with men, and social subjects 
like history and politics, rather than grammar and rhetoric. 
Montaigne, in two of his essays, "Pedantry" and "The Edu- 
cation of Children," represents this view. 

3. Sense-realists, who demanded a new content and a new 
method in education, viz., the study of things, especially 
nature, and the inductive method. Francis Bacon in "The New 
Atlantis" foreshadows this view. 

Comenius is the best representative of sense-realism. The 
principles which he advocated were set forth in his "Magna 
Didactica," which practically remained unnoticed. But he was 
successful in introducing some of them into his Latin texts,^ 
which were very popular. 

Social realism had a direct influence upon the RitteraJcade- 
mien in Germany, and humanistic realism and sense-realism 
upon the academy in England and America. The greatest 

156 



EEACTION AGAINST HUMANISM 

influence of sense-realism was upon the pietists' schools, and 
it was finally incorporated in the Bealschule. 

Meaning of Realism in Education. — It cannot be too 
strongly emphasized that none of the movements de- 
scribed in the last chapter had any effect in diminishing 
the formalism into which humanistic education had 
fallen. Being all religious in nature, they intensified 
that formalism and added to it a respect for authority 
and tradition which was alien to the spirit of true 
humanism. But, altho institutional education tended 
strongly to suppress the free expression of individuality, 
the human spirit found vent outside of official schools 
and schoolmen. Narrow humanism held sway in educa- 
tion for nearly three centuries, but not without protest 
and opposition. In whatever respects its opponents dif- 
fered they all agreed upon one fundamental principle, 
viz., that education should deal with the realities of the 
present life and prepare young men and women for its 
concrete duties. The prevailing education was one of 
books and words, not one of things and ideas. It exalted 
the pupil's memory and made him dependent, whereas 
he needed to have his judgment and reason developed in 
order to meet courageously the exigencies of a changing 
environment. 

Classes of Realists. — What reforms were necessary in 
order to organize education as a preparation for actual 
living in contact with the realities of life? It is in the 
answer to this question that the realists differ. Some, 
like Rabelais and Milton, wished merely to hark back to 
the position of the early Renaissance scholars, viz., to 
study the classical literature for its content, not its form, 
to emphasize its literature, not its language. Realities 
to them meant ideas, and the best ideas ever conceived by 

157 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

the human mind were to be found in the classical litera- 
tures. These men have been called ''humanistic real- 
ists." Others, like Montai^e and Locke, maintained 
that the only way to know the realities of life was by 
actual intercourse with men in society. Education, there- 
fore, should be practical and aim to prepare the youth 
for social living. Modern foreign languages to enable 
him to travel and secure a wide experience should be 
emphasized instead of ancient languages ; social subjects 
like history and politics to develop a sounder judgment, 
rather than grammar and rhetoric. These men have been 
called by Professor Monroe "social realists." A third 
group reacted against the prevailing education more vio- 
lently than either of the others. They demanded a new 
content and a new method in education, viz., the study of 
things, especially of nature, and the inductive method. 
The only realities are things with which one comes into 
contact thru the senses. Men like Bacon and Come- 
nius have generally been called "sense-realists," and 
with them we have the beginning of modern science. 

It is to be noted that in studying realism in education 
we are studying men, not schools nor systems of schools. 
The prevailing methods of education were too deeply 
intrenched to be affected by the principles of these ' ' in- 
novators," as they were called. Most of them were not 
engaged in school work, but were writers. Their books 
or pamphlets against the prevailing education were often 
merely side issues in lives devoted to other affairs, tho 
their detachment enabled them to see its absurdities 
better than those engaged in its daily routine. Their 
principles had to wait for generations and in some cases 
for several centuries before they were realized. It is 
sometimes difficult to classify an innovator, because he 
partakes of the characteristics of more than one group ; 

158 



REACTION AGAINST HUMANISM 

in fact he is placed in one group rather than another as 
a matter of emphasis. 

A. HUMANISTIC BEALISM 

The ideal of the men of the early Renaissance was 
to reestablish Rome on earth. Being Italian they had 
a strong national pride in ancient Roman history. The 
humanistic realists wanted to understand human society 
and its institutions, nature and man 's reactions to nature, 
so that the individual might be properly adjusted to the 
environment in which he was going to live. But this 
knowledge in the domain of thought and of action could 
be gained only thru a study of the classical litera- 
ture, "Whether one wished to study literature, phi- 
losophy, science, agriculture, architecture, or medicine, 
he must turn to the ancient authors upon those subjects. 
The education of the humanistic realist, therefore, was 
just as bookish as that which he opposed, but his was an 
intelligent use of books to get at their meaning, not pri- 
marily to study their structure and style. This was the 
view of the more thoughtful of those who believed that 
the classical languages and literatures were the sole 
means to an education. Tho represented early in 
such works as the "Gargantua and Pantagruel" of 
Rabelais (1483-1553), it can probably be understood 
best by a brief study of a later representative, John Mil- 
ton (1608-1674). 

l^ltcn's "Tractate on Education." — Milton's definition 
of education, ''that which fits a man to perform justly, 
skilfully, and magnanimouslj'^ all the offices, both pri- 
vate and public, of peace and war, ' ' sufficiently indicates 
his belief that education must prepare for actual living 
in a real world. To do this it must give a knowledge 

159 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

of the thoughts of the ancients upon the various activi- 
ties in which men engage. Hence the years spent by boys 
in formal grammar, and later in acquiring elegant and 
showy information, are wasted. Milton, not satisfied that 
a student shall know the content of the classical litera- 
ture, gives Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, and Italian a place 
in his curriculum. Moreover, he demands that practi- 
cally all the natural and social sciences, applied mathe- 
matics, philosophy, in fact the whole gamut of learn- 
ing be studied. But all these subjects are to be 
studied out of books and, moreover, out of books in 
foreign languages and chiefly in the classical tongues. 
Milton provides a curriculum fit only for little Miltons. 
He reacted not only against the content of the prevailing 
education, but also against its organization. He sug- 
gested that the entire education of a boy from twelve to 
twenty-one be given in an academy instead of being 
divided between the secondary school and the university. 
Great care is to be given to his moral and religious, as 
well as to his intellectual training, and a fine course of 
exercises is described for the boy 's physical welfare. The 
scheme of education described in the ' ' Tractate on Edu- 
cation" is purely ideal. It is of little service to the 
schoolmaster and had practically no influence. It has 
been mentioned to give an idea of the conception of 
education which the humanistic realists advocated. 

B. SOCIAL EEALISM 

The social realists were men of affairs, interested in the 
proper education of the young aristocrat who would in 
all probability participate in public life. They were not 
likely to view with favor the prevailing education, char- 
acterized by so much pedantry and formalism, and 

160 



REACTION AGAINST HUMANISM 

divorced from practical affairs. They had little sym- 
pathy even with the humanistic realists, who, they con- 
sidered, aimed to prepare young men for the life of the 
past. Of all the realists they placed the greatest em- 
phasis upon individualism. They preferred the educa- 
tion of the individual by a tutor to group training in 
schools. They had in view individual success as the 
aim to be sought and hence demanded a practical and 
utilitarian guide in the choice of subject matter and 
of method. They insisted that the training of the prac- 
tical judgment, not the cramming of the memory, would 
best enable the individual to be efficient and successful 
in life. Only sufficient learning was necessary to assist 
in attaining these ends and to enable the individual 
wisely to enjoy his leisure hours. Above all, the educa- 
tion of the ''man of the world" could best be secured 
thru travel, for by means of travel one is brought into 
direct contact with people and their activities, and that 
is the kind of experience which is most worth while. Of 
all the writers who held this point of view, the most rep- 
presentative was Michael de Montaigne (1533-1592). 

Character of Montaigne. — Montaigne's own education 
was carefully supervised by his father. He was taught 
to speak Latin before French and was sent at an early 
age to the College de Guyenne at Bordeaux. This insti- 
tution was one of the first fruits of the Renaissance move- 
ment in France and had maintained a fine reputation 
as a seat of humanistic learning. As Montaigne reacted 
unfavorably to the education given there, he naturally 
had little patience with what was done in the abodes of 
humanism generally. He afterwards studied law and 
held a number of public offices, being twice mayor of 
Bordeaux. But he early retired from public affairs and 
led a life of leisure, during which he wrote his celebrated 

161 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

** Essays." Montaigne was essentially a skeptic and 
Epicurean, a man of worldly wisdom and tolerance ; and 
tko his morality is essentially utilitarian and perhaps 
even materialistic, he is a most lovable figure in an age 
of bigotry, pedantry, and general intolerance. 

His Educational Essays. — ^Montaigne wrote essays on 
a great variety of subjects, but his educational opinions 
are found chiefly in two, ''Pedantry" and ''The Educa- 
tion of Children" — especially in the latter. Holding the 
view that education is to prepare the individual for the 
practical affairs of real life, he has only scorn for the 
belief that the mere study of books will be adequate. 
Thereby the individual obtains a knowledge of words, 
not "things" — by which, like all social realists, he meant 
ideas. Ideas are gotten thru experience with others, 
therefore the boy must come in contact with others first 
in his own country, then by travel in other countries; 
and for the latter purpose he must study modern foreign 
languages. He should profit, moreover, by the experi- 
ence of others; therefore Montaigne places great stress 
upon the study of history, which contains the experi- 
ence of others, and should be taught as the philosophy 
of human conduct. In these ways a young man will ac- 
cumulate real knowledge and wisdom, not merely in- 
formation; and he will find discipline of the judgment, 
the mental power, of most value and use in life. How 
far better is this than the method then prevailing, of 
cramming the memory with mere verbiage! "To know 
by heart only, ' ' says Montaigne, ' ' is not to know at all. ' ' 
* ' A boy should not so much memorize his lesson as prac- 
tice it." And all his learning should be done under 
pleasant conditions, not under terror, and with proper 
provision for the care and training of his body. It can 
be readily understood that an educational ideal so far 

162 



REACTION AGAINST HUMANISM 

removed from that which prevailed in his day would 
have little influence upon educational institutions. But 
upon the class for whom he wrote and upon succeeding 
thinkers, e. g., Locke and Rousseau, Montaigne's influ- 
ence was undoubted. 

Institutional Results of Social and Humanistic Realism. 
— Tho the views of education expounded by human- 
istic and social realists had little influence upon the con- 
duct of humanistic schools either in Protestant or Cath- 
olic countries, those views in conjunction with other in- 
fluences did result in the founding of new institutions. 
Towards the close of the sixteenth century French court 
life began to have a profound influence upon the German 
nobility, and the desire to know the French language, 
literature, and ways of life spread rapidly. This, com- 
bined with the desire to have a more practical education 
that would prepare for civil and military affairs, led in 
Germany to the foundation of institutions known as Bit- 
terakademien, i. e., schools for nobles. Physical train- 
ing and accomplishments, modem languages, particularly 
French, political history and geography, mathematics, 
and military science, formed the main part of the work. 
Latin grammar, rhetoric, and religion were not wholly 
neglected, but they received only secondary considera- 
tion. After the Thirty Years' War there was a great 
extension of these institutions in Germany and, tho 
they were afterwards absorbed into the Gymnasium sys- 
tem, for nearly a century they were the most influential 
educational institutions in the country. Similar insti- 
tutions were established by Richelieu in France, but 
they never had the same influence there as had the Bit- 
ierakademien in Germany. 

The English Academy. — But it was in England that 
humanistic and social realism resulted in the most dis- 

163 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

tinctive institutions. When the Act of Uniformity was 
passed by Parliament in 1662, more than two thousand 
nonconformist clergymen were thrown out of their liv- 
ings, and the universities and secondary schools were 
closed to dissenters. Some of these ministers of neces- 
sity, and others by choice, turned to teaching to support 
themselves; they found a large constituency in the chil- 
dren of the dissenters. Influenced in all probability by 
the description of the "Academy" in Milton's ''Trac- 
tate, * ' the schools established to meet the new need were 
given that name. Because the first necessity was the 
education of ministers for the nonconformist churches, 
Latin and Greek became the backbone of the curriculum ; 
but modern languages were also taught and the medium 
of all instruction was English. Moreover, history, geog- 
raphy, mathematics, and natural philosophy had a place 
beside rhetoric, logic, and metaphysics. Despite the 
intensely religious atmosphere of these schools, their 
curricula and methods were determined by a pur- 
pose to make education a practical preparation for real 
living. 

The Academy in America. — The academy eventually 
found its way into the American colonies. From almost 
the very beginning the humanistic grammar school in 
many seaport towns had added practical subjects to the 
curriculum. But it was not until the middle of the eight- 
eenth century that an effort was made to break almost 
completely with the prevailing humanistic education by 
the establishment of an institution denominated an acad- 
emy. In 1751 there was founded at Philadelphia, as 
the result of the suggestion of Benjamin Franklin, * * The 
Academy and Charitable School of Pennsylvania, ' ' which 
later developed into the University of Pennsylvania. So 
desirous was Franklin of establishing a school that would 

164 



EEACTION AGAINST HUMANISM 

prepare for life — especially for life in a new country — 
and not merely for college, that he at first wished to 
exclude all foreign languages from the curriculum. Tho 
this was not done, the emphasis was placed upon the 
teaching of history, geography, drawing, mathematics, 
the natural sciences, and English grammar and composi- 
tion. In fact, Franklin 's Academy was more the product 
of sense-realism than of either humanistic or social real- 
ism. Similar institutions were founded, especially in 
New England ; and by the close of the century the acad- 
emies were rapidly displacing the Latin grammar schools 
as the secondary schools of the country. We shall re- 
turn to them later when discussing the development of 
education in the United States. 

C. SENSE-KEALISM 

Scientific Discoveries in the Seventeenth Century. — One 
of the first fruits of the early Renaissance movement 
was the new attitude taken by men toward nature, the 
delight in its beauty, the joy of living in it, the desire 
to understand it. This interest in nature early had such 
results as the heliocentric theory of the solar system 
of Copernicus, the explanation of the motions of the 
planets by Kepler, and the discovery by Galileo of new 
celestial phenomena by means of the telescope he had 
invented. The wonder is that more rapid progress had 
not been made ; but the explanation of that fact is given 
in the overshadowing place of religion in the life of 
the sixteenth century. Before the Reformation the 
Church was not friendly to the exposition of new ideas 
concerning nature that did not harmonize with Aristotle, 
and after it men's time and thought were given almost 
wholly to disputes over matters of religious belief. 

165 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

Nevertheless, in the seventeenth century such a remark- 
able series of discoveries in science was made as seriously 
to affect the ecclesiastical control of men 's opinions in the 
domain of natural phenomena. To understand the im- 
mense advance made in the domain of natural science 
during the seventeenth century, one has but to enu- 
merate Napier 's 'logarithms, Descartes ' analytical geom- 
etry, Newton's law of gravitation, Leibnitz' calculus, 
Torricelli's barometer, Boyle's theories of the vacuum 
and of gases, Harvey's theory of the circulation of the 
blood, Malpighi's use of the compound microscope. In 
fact, just as the fifteenth century brought with it a great 
literary revival and the sixteenth a great religious re- 
vival, so the seventeenth brought a great scientific re- 
vival. It was in reality the final stage of the Renais- 
sance movement. These discoveries did not result from 
the reading of books, but from the deliberate applica- 
tion of men 's powers of observation to the phenomena of 
nature. Moreover, some of them were in flat contradic- 
tion to the dicta of the Greek authorities who had been 
venerated for centuries. They were the fruit of the 
determination of men to think for themselves, to rely 
upon their own reason, and to use their own judgment. 
It can readily be understood that knowledge, and a 
method of securing it which widened men's mental hori- 
zon and resulted in real advancement of human welfare, 
would not lack advocates demanding for them places 
in the activities of the school. And tho this early 
scientific movement had very little influence upon the 
schools of the time, the educational writings in which 
it was set forth secured its very slow but gradual intro- 
duction into school practice. 

Fundamental Principles of the Sense-Realists. — Like 
the earlier realists, whose views have already been de- 

166 



REACTION AGAINST HUMANISM 

scribed, the sense-realists condemned the following prac- 
tices that then prevailed : 

1. The excessive emphasis upon the literary element 
in education ; 

2. The cramming of the memory with material that 
was not understood; 

3. The divorce of school work from the practical needs 
of daily life ; 

4. The harsh discipline, based upon the rod, which 
made the school a place of gloom and even of terror ; 

5. The neglect of the body and of the physical wel- 
fare of the individual. 

But, in addition to opposing these wrong practices, 
the sense-realists advocated others which make their 
movement a far more important and emphatic reaction 
against the prevailing narrow humanism. Among them 
were the following: 

1. That education should conform to nature, and that 
the laws upon which it should be based could be discov- 
ered in nature. They were not clear themselves as to 
what this implied; and they certainly had very little 
understanding of the development of the child mind. 

2. That the proper order of procedure in teaching is 
things, ideas, words; and this meant that education is 
primarily a training in sense-perception thru con- 
tact with objective material. 

3. That instruction, to be understood, must be in the 
vernacular tongue. 

4. That an education based upon the perception of 
natural objects must have a new method, viz., the induc- 
tive method. 

5. That by the proper application of this method and 
by the correct organization of material the quantity of 
knowledge to be absorbed by the individual was much 

167 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

to be increased. This led to an excessive emphasis upon 
the place and value of knowledge in life. 

In the application of these principles — for they were 
nearly all applied in school work — the enthusiastic sense- 
realists often honored them more in the breach than 
in the observance, and gave ample opportunity for hos- 
tile criticism. But most of their principles — tho they 
knew it not — were in harmony with a sound child psy- 
chology and, therefore, were destined to be realized in 
the course of time. 

Richard Mulcaster (1546-1611). — The man who pro- 
vided a philosophic basis for what is known as the sense- 
realistic movement was undoubtedly Francis Bacon, and 
he is often referred to as the first sense-realist. But a 
number of writers who preceded him maintained the 
principles of the sense-realists in part and unconsciously 
advocated what he formulated into the method of induc- 
tion. One of these, Richard Mulcaster, showed such re- 
markable prevision that his work demands a brief study. 
That he should have advocated the raS^ical views he did 
is all the more remarkable when one remembers that he 
was successively the headmaster of the Merchant Tay- 
lors' School and of St. Paul's, two of the most famous 
humanistic schools of England. Yet in his two books, 
the ' * Elementarie ' ' and the ' ' Positions, ' ' he insisted that 
education should be according to nature, that is, should 
secure the expression of childish tendencies and not aim 
at their repression ; that the first consideration in educa- 
tion is the care and training of the body ; that elementary 
education is worthy of as much consideration as higher ; 
that it should be for girls as well as boys ; that the study 
of the vernacular is far more important than the study 
of Latin or of any other language ; that teachers require 
university training as much as lawyers, physicians, or 

168 



REACTION AGAINST HUMANISM 

ministers. It is evident how much more radical are 
Mulcaster's positions than those of any other writer 
considered so far, and wh}^ some of them waited until the 
nineteenth century for fulfillment. 

Francis Bacon (1561-1626). — Nevertheless, Mulcaster 
did not lay much stress upon what is the most distin- 
guishing feature of the sense-realists, viz., that education 
must be based upon a training of the senses by means of 
the study of the objects and phenomena of nature. 
Neither did Bacon, who had comparatively little inter- 
est in education. But the revolution his work caused in 
men's ways of thinking inspired others who were inter- 
ested in education to base their educational views upon 
principles he formulated. It is necessary, therefore, to 
consider those principles before studying their appli- 
cation to education by his followers. 

"The New Atlantis." — Bacon had been carefully 
trained in the education of the day, but even while a 
student at Oxford he condemned the education he was 
receiving. He opposed scholasticism and humanism with 
equal vehemence, the one as dealing only with worthless 
speculation, the other with useless verbiage, and both as 
valueless for human welfare. Knowledge that cannot 
function for the advancement of the human race is not 
worth having. Bacon lived in the days of Utopias and 
he also wrote one, ''The New Atlantis." This is a de- 
scription of an ideal society, in which there dwell peace 
and contentment among the inhabitants. These ideal 
conditions resulted from an investigation of nature, the 
discovery of her laws and the harnessing of nature to 
man's needs and purposes by the invention of machines 
in conformity with her laws. The most important fea- 
ture of ' ' The New Atlantis " is ' ' Solomon 's House, " a re- 
search institution given up exclusively to the scientific 

169 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

investigation of natural phenomena. '*The New Atlan- 
tis" is typical of what should exist among men in our 
own society ; and * ' Solomon 's House, ' ' of the kind of uni- 
versity needed for the realization of such an ideal. 

The Baconian Method. — Knowledge of nature, then, 
is the only real and fruitful knowledge ; but it cannot be 
obtained by the syllogistic reasoning of the schoolmen or 
by the use of the deductive logic, which was supposed to 
be Aristotle 's sole method of reasoning. In the ' ' Novum 
Organum" Bacon proposed a **new method," namely, 
induction, to supersede that given by Aristotle in the 
**Organon" (viz., deduction). As a matter of fact the 
method formulated by Bacon was neither a new method 
nor the true inductive method. He sneered at the "an- 
ticipation of nature ' ' whereby an investigator frames an 
hypothesis to explain certain facts and then tests the 
validity of his hypothesis by comparison with other facts. 
Yet that use of scientific imagination was just what en- 
abled the scientists mentioned in a previous paragraph to 
obtain their splendid results. Such results could never 
have been secured by Bacon's method, which can be 
briefly described thus: the investigator must first re- 
lieve himself of all "idols," i. e., prejudices; then as- 
semble the materials resulting from his observations, 
and draw his general principle from a comparison of the 
cases where a certain effect took place and where it did 
not. Moreover, Bacon believed that anybody who fol- 
lowed his method would arrive at the true conclusion ; no 
special mental power was needed. In fact, some of the 
realists were so enamored of the Baconian method that 
they maintained that by its proper use in education the 
individual would be enabled with comparative ease, and 
in much less time than was supposed possible, to obtain 
all the knowledge that was to be had (pansophia). De- 

170 



REACTION AGAINST HUMANISM 

spite the fact that Bacon did not discover the true in- 
ductive method of reasoning and that he exaggerated the 
results to he obtained by the application of his own 
method, his eminent i>osition in the social and political 
world and his ability to present his ideas attractively 
combined to give his writings an influence which went far 
to convince men that not reliance upon tradition nor 
the dicta of authorities, but careful observation and ex- 
perimentation were what are necessary in order to arrive 
at an understanding of the truths of the natural and 
social worlds. 

Jolm Amos Comenius (1592-1670). — Bacon was inter- 
ested in the subject matter of knowledge, not in how 
the individual acquires it. He did not concern himself 
with the psychological significance of the inductive 
method. If we get knowledge with certainty only by in- 
duction, it would seem to follow logically that we ought 
to teach inductively. But the educational application 
of his method Bacon left to his followers. While Come- 
nius was not the first of these to attempt a realization 
of Baconian principles in teaching, he was the most influ- 
ential and successful, and is by far the best representa- 
tive of the sense-realistic movement. Comenius was not 
only the greatest educator of the seventeenth century, 
but one of the greatest educators of all centuries; and 
this is true whether we regard him as a practical teacher 
and administrator, a writer of textbooks, or a theorizer 
on educational principles. He was born in Moravia, 
studied for the ministry, and afterwards became the last 
bishop of the Moravian Church. Owing to the death of 
his parents when he was quite young, his early education 
was neglected, and he did not enter the Latin school until 
he was nearly seventeen, mature enough to understand 
the badness of the method used in teaching Latin. Come- 

171 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

nius' first interest in life was religious, and his strength 
and energy were largely given to caring for his perse- 
cuted coreligionists, who had been driven from their 
native land and were scattered everywhere thruout 
Protestant Europe. His religious work, however, 
brought him among men who were interested in educa- 
tion and who to some extent influenced his educational 
views. His second interest was philosophy, and this 
prompted him to attempt the complete organization of 
human knowledge into an encyclopedic form (panso- 
phism) . This had been done by some of the great school- 
men, but with Comenius it was to be based upon Bacon- 
ian principles and to result from a study of the familiar 
facts and phenomena about one, which were to be ar- 
ranged according to general laws. This done, the in- 
vestigator could proceed to the unfamiliar and unknown, 
until he had covered the whole ground of knowledge, 
each part of which would find its natural place in the 
whole and lead inevitably to the next. The acquisition of 
this knowledge was for the purpose of functioning for 
social welfare and progress. Comenius' third interest 
was in the reform of education, and it was in this he 
achieved something of permanent value. In the history 
of education Comenius is really a transition figure from 
those who subordinated everything in education to re- 
ligion to those like Locke and Rousseau, who considered 
religion merely one element in a secularized system. 

The "Great Didactic" (1657). — Tho Comenius wrote 
a great many books and pamphlets on education, 
the principles which he advocates are best explained in 
his treatise on the philosophy of education, the ^' Great 
Didactic.'' This theoretical exposition of his beliefs he 
wrote in his early manhood, and his later school activities 
are but an application of the ideas set forth in it. The 

172 



EEACTION AGAINST HUMANISM 

book consists of thirty-three chapters, covering the whole 
ground of education : its aim, purpose, proper organiza- 
tion, content of study, methods of teaching, discipline, 
textbooks. In fact, no topic of importance is omitted 
from consideration. It is a splendid summing up of the 
views of the realists, and is characterized by so much 
sanity and wisdom that it can be profitably studied by 
the student of education today. But the teachers of 
Comenius' generation were interested in the teaching of 
Latin ; hence, while his Latin textbooks achieved an im- 
mense popularity, the ' ' Great Didactic, ' ' one of the few 
really excellent treatises on education, received practical- 
ly no recognition. It remained in oblivion until brought 
to light by the German educators of the mid-nineteenth 
century. Then it was discovered that many of the sound 
principles of education which had been adopted by the 
reformers of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth cen- 
turies had already been formulated by Comenius in the 
seventeenth. A very brief idea of the contents of the 
*' Great Didactic" is given in the exposition of his views 
which f oUows : 

The meaning, content, and method of education. — The 
religious aim of education dominated with Comenius. 
Education is to prepare the individual for eternal happi- 
ness with God by means of the acquisition of knowledge, 
virtue, and piety. In the exposition of this aim the 
pansophic fallacy of overemphasis upon the value and 
place of knowledge in human life is evident. Eternal 
happiness with God is the reward of right living, and 
that in turn is the result of knowing how to live in the 
world of nature and society. Hence the content of 
education must be primarily a knowledge of the facts and 
phenomena of nature. It is here that Comenius was most 
successful in carrying out Baconian principles, for he 

173 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

filled his textbooks with material from nature. He was 
too much of a theologian, however, to appreciate fully or 
to apply properly the inductive method. He states that 
we get knowledge by means of the senses, reason, and. 
divine revelation; and even sometimes proves a conten- 
tion by a quotation from Scripture. While he insists 
that teaching shall be * * according to nature, ' ' he seldom 
means according to the method of experiment, but of an- 
alogy; and he constantly finds the clew for the teacher's 
method in the bird, the chick, the seed. But tho 
his psychology was defective, he was the first to apply 
the new method successfully to the practical problems 
of classroom teaching, and his textbooks owe their great 
success to the fact that they were written in accordance 
with it. 

Organization of Education. — Comenius demanded that 
all persons, boys and girls, rich and poor, be educated 
not merely so that they might read the Bible, but that 
they might really develop as rational beings created in 
the image of God. This education of the individual was 
to be 'divided into four periods of six years each. (1) In 
the first of these the child should be taught in the school 
of the mother's knee, i. e., the home. During this 
period he should not only be cared for physically and 
morally, but should learn facts of nature and geography, 
without books. (2) The second period was that of the 
vernacular school, which was to be free and compulsory 
for all. The work of the school was to be conducted en- 
tirely in the vernacular tongue and to include material 
from all kinds of human experiences, so that not only 
religion and the three R 's but history, geography, draw- 
ing, and mechanical arts should find a place. (3) The 
third period was that of the Latin school, the work of 
which was similar to that of the Gymnasium, but was to 

174 



REACTION AGAINST HUMANISM 

include, in addition to languages, science and the seven 
liberal arts. Because of the training given in the ver- 
nacular school and because of the better method of teach- 
ing languages adopted, the same ground could be cov- 
ered in six years for which nine was needed in the Gym- 
nasium. (4) The last period was devoted to the uni- 
versity, to which admission should be granted upon ex- 
amination, so that only men of ability would attend. 
Provision should be made for every branch of human 
knowledge, so that a student would be enabled to study 
not only his profession but other subjects in which he 
might be interested. Beyond the university, which was 
to be a teaching institution, there should also be a ''di- 
dactic college ' ' devoted to scientific research. Comenius, 
therefore, provided an educational ladder which was in 
a way a suggestion of what has been worked out in 
America more than two centuries later. 

Comenius' Latin Texts. — Comenius was known to his 
own generation as the man who had invented a new and 
better method of teaching Latin, and it was in his Latin 
textbooks that he was most successful in applying the 
principles of the sense-realists. He objected strongly to 
the way Latin was then taught, i. e., by beginning with 
grammar and using texts which had no natural interest 
for the child and made no attempt at grading the diffi- 
culty of the material presented. To overcome these ob- 
stacles he wrote the " Janua Linguarum Reserata" (The 
Gate of Languages Unlocked ) . The idea underlying this 
was to use the Latin names of common and familiar ob- 
jects and arrange them into sentences increasing in diffi- 
culty, but arranged so as to give a clear knowledge of 
some topic. There were one hundred chapters of little 
more than a page each, covering a wide variety of sub- 
jects. The Latin was given on one side of the page and 

175 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

the vernacular on the other, so that the child could get 
the Latin vocabulary by comparison and so that a knowl- 
edge of grammar could be developed inductively by the 
teacher. The two chief defects of the book were that he 
violated a fundamental principle of language teaching by 
using each word but once — there were eight thousand 
different Latin words in the ' * Janua ' ' — and he indulged 
in his pansophic fallacy of crowding in too much knowl- 
edge. Nevertheless, the book was such a remarkable im- 
provement upon any text then in use that in a short time 
it was translated into sixteen different languages and be- 
came the standard Latin primer in general use. Come- 
nius was encouraged thereby to write several other text- 
books, one of which must be briefly considered because 
of its immense popularity and its importance in the his- 
tory of school textbooks. This was the *'Orbis Pictus" 
(The World in Pictures), the first illustrated textbook 
for children. It was an adaptation of the ''Janua," 
but at the head of each chapter there was a picture to 
represent the text, each part of which was numbered to 
correspond to the words in the text. This was an at- 
tempt to introduce the principles of dealing with things 
by means of pictures, of arousing interest in the subject 
matter, and applying comparison and inference, the very 
basis of induction. The ''Orbis Pictus" was even more 
popular than the ''Janua," and was used not only as 
the beginning text for the study of Latin, but also as 
a means of learning to read the vernacular. Comenius 
maintained that by the use of such textbooks and of the 
inductive method of teaching, the school would become a 
place of joy instead of gloom, and interest in work would 
supersede the rod as a means of discipline. 

Influence of Comenius. — The Latin textbooks of Co- 
menius continued to be thumbed by the boys of Europe 

176 



The TaSolr. 



LXIV- 



Sartor. 




Ti^r Tailor, I. 

4md/tnoitb it togethtr with J 
ff^dleiaitJdoQhle Thread,4i 

Tien he preffstk the Scams 
nxntka Preflng-tron, 5» 

. Atid ih»s ht maketb 
Coaits, 6* 
4Vf/^ Plaits. 7. 
iyr nv^/^^ thgBotder^SJjMwf 
<wiM Laces, 9^ 

Cloaks, io» 
nmjh a Cape, 1 1 . 
^ful Sleeve Coats, 1 2« 

DoubleiB, 13. 
ofu^i/i^ Buttons, 24* 
tfW Cuffs, If. 

Bj-eeohes, 16. 
^mnimis nuitb RibbOft$| IJ* 

Stockings, i8. 

Gioyes» 19. 



Sartor, I. 

^Ifcthdit P.Mttim, 2 . FoffifftXt 
confttitquc ^^tf ^ ///« & 
<at6, 4. 

PoAea complanat Sttiurat 
Ffrramento^ 5. 

Sicque conficit 
Tttaicas, 6. 
fiitaUis, ,7. 

in qoibas iofraeS fimbriiffi^ 
cum InftiiiSf 9* 

Pallia 9 X0«. 
Ctirni Patagfo, xi* 
ScTegas manU^tas^ 1 2* 

Thoroifi, 13. 
camGhhulij, i4«. 
& Manias, i C. 
, xo. 



C<z//^, 
aiiquando cum Ltmnifiisy tp 
Trhifilia^ 1 8, 
Chitothetast 29* 

A Page fbom: the "Oebis Pictus" of Gomenius. 



177 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

long after his death, but except for that he had little 
influence on the schools of his own day and his name 
became almost forgotten. Humanism was too strongly- 
intrenched to be ousted by realism. But altho his 
principles were not realized in practice, his writings indi- 
cate the turn in the tide from the control of religion in 
education to that of secular interests. No thinker in 
education after him will strike the religious as the domi- 
nant note. And with him the movement away from 
authority and toward freedom made a great advance. 

Spread of Sense-Realism. — Tho the progress of sense- 
realism was slow it was nevertheless steady, and dur- 
ing the latter part of the seventeenth century the use 
of the vernacular in the elementary schools and the addi- 
tion of some practical subjects to the curriculum kept 
apace. But the movement made greater headway in 
secondary education. This was due chiefly to the work 
of Herman Frcmcke (1663-1727) and the pietists. After 
the Thirty Years' War formalism and intolerance among 
the religious sects of Germany increased, and intellectual 
adherence to a creed became even more than before the 
evidence of a religious life. Against this the pietistic 
movement was a reaction, as it was also against the ra- 
tionalism that prevailed in the circles of the Bitterakade- 
mien. To realize one's religious belief in acts, and not 
merely to conform to the words of a creed, was the es- 
sense of the pietists' faith. Francke had been appointed 
in 1692, professor of Greek and Oriental languages at 
the recently established University of Halle. He was 
shocked at the ignorance and barbarism of the poor of 
the town and soon established a charity school for poor 
children. This was followed in succession by a secondary 
school for wealthy students, to which bright boys from 
the charity school were admitted, a seminary for the 

178 



REACTION AGAINST HUMANISM 

training of teachers, a printing establishment for the 
publication of books, as well as a number of philan- 
thropic institutions, such as an orphan asylum, an apoth- 
ecary shop and a free dining hall for poor students of 
the university. In the vernacular school, in addition to 
the elementary studies, history, geography, and natural 
histoiy were taught ; in the secondary school, in addition 
to the classics, French, history, geography, mathematics, 
drawing, and science, pure and applied. In other words 
there was being realized at Halle the Comenian ideal of 
a training in real subjects for practical life under relig- 
ious influences. But whereas the real studies in 
Francke's ' ' Pedagogium " (as he called his school) were 
in the nature of a relaxation from the classics, with his 
pupil Johann Hecker they became the very core of the 
Beahchule which the latter established at Berlin in 1747. 
This was the mother of the Realschulen which were grad- 
ually established in the commercial cities of Germany,, 
and which have since been incorporated into the second- 
ary school system of Germany and are now on a par 
with the Gymnasien in the privilege of preparing stu- 
dents for the universities. 

The University of Halle was the first modern univer- 
sity, and has continued to be one of the most progressive 
of the German universities. It was the first European 
university to substitute the vernacular for Latin as the 
language in which lectures were delivered. It rejected 
the narrow classical-theological scholasticism that pre- 
vailed in the other universities, introduced modern sci- 
ence and a liberal philosophy, and laid the basis for 
the ^'Lelir- und Lernfreiheit'^ (freedom of teaching and 
freedom of study) which afterwards became the pride 
of German higher education. Exalting the place of hu- 
man reason in life, it gave a powerful impetus to indi- 

179 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

vidual freedom and a corresponding blow to the undue 
emphasis upon authority and tradition. 

In England sense-realism had some influence in the 
newly established academies ;^ and this was also true of 
those that sprang up in America. It had comparatively 
little influence upon the universities. However, the 
mathematical and scientific work of ^^V Isaac Newton 
(1669-1702), who held a professorship at Cambridge, 
gave that university a bias in favor of mathematics and 
science which resulted in the establishment of chairs for 
those subjects in the following century. In France and 
the Catholic countries generally, where the Jesuits were 
in control of secondary and higher education, sense-real- 
ism made little progress. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Articles in Cyclopedia of Education upon Realism, Bacon, 
Comenius, Milton, Montaigne, etc. 

CuBBERLEY, E. P. Syllabus in the History of Education. 
Chaps. XXI-XXII, XXVI, XXX. 

Graves, F. P. A History of Education. Vol. II, Chaps. 
XVII, XVIII. 

Monroe, P. A Textbook in the History of Education. 
Chap. VIII. 

Monroe, W. S. Comenius and the Beginnings of Educa- 
tional Reform. 

Quick, R. H. Educational Reformers. Chaps. VI, VIII, 
IX, X, XII. 

Paulsen, F. German Education, pp. 112-133. 

QUESTIONS, COMPARISONS, AND TOPICS FOR 
FURTHER STUDY 

1. Who approached more nearly the Greco-Roman ideal 
of education, Milton or Montaigne? 

*See p. 1631 

180 



REACTION AGAINST HUMANISM 

2. What value for educational purposes do you place upon 
the year of travel which is customary in Germany, known 
as das Wander jaJir? 

3. In what respects does the aim of education today differ 
from that expressed by Milton in the "Tractate"? 

4. Would it be possible today to train the "man of the 
world" with the culture material suggested by Montaigne? 

5. What kind of memory training had Montaigne in view 
when he said "to know by heart only is not to know at all" ? 

6. What conditions in the American colonies worked for 
a cordial reception of realistic ideas? 

7. What influences in England helped to stay the develop- 
ment of a more realistic education? 

8. Is there a just balance in the education of today between 
the literary and scientific elements, between the thing and 
the word? 

9. Give the reasons for the late introduction of the ver- 
nacular as the medium of instruction. 

10. Whom in the early part of our study does Comenius 
resemble in his emphasis upon knowledge as necessary to 
right living? 

11. Comenius wished to have elementary education com- 
pleted at twelve. Could the work of our elementary schools 
be organized to end at that year and thereby leave the remain- 
ing two years for vocational work? 

12. How did Comenius' method of teaching Latin differ 
from the Jansenists'? 

13. Is the place of pictures overemphasized in the text- 
books of today? What justification can you offer for the 
use of moving pictures? 

14. To what extent may collections of post cards, pictures 
from magazines, and advertising matter be used for class 
teaching? 

15. In what subjects, for what purposes, and to what 
extent would you use the stereopticon and moving pictures? 

16. To what extent does Lelir-und Lernfreiheit exist among 
the institutions of higher education today? 

181 



CHAPTER XI 

A NEW DEFENSE OF HUMANISM— FORMAL DISCIPLINE 

IN EDUCATION 

Outline. — During the seventeenth century there was a steady 
decline in the utilitarian value of Latin, and another justifi- 
cation for it as the basis of the educational curriculum was 
needed by schoolmen. 

This was found in the doctrine of formal discipline, which 
taught that certain subjects, particularly classics and mathe- 
matics, develop a general mental power that may be applied in 
any direction, and they should, therefore, be studied by 
everybody. 

Toward the end of the eighteenth century a new humanism 
arose in Germany, which emphasized the value of the classical 
literatures, especially Greek, to develop the all-round man. 
The new humanism had little in common with the doctrine 
of formal discipline. 

Decline in the XTtilitarian Valne of Latin. — The Ren- 
aissance scholars had only words of scorn for the for- 
malism of the schoolmen, whose dialectic, they main- 
tained, however well it may have sharpened wits, was 
empty of content for any of the needs of life. They 
turned joyfully to the classical literatures because those 
literatures contained materials of value to men in their 
thought life and in their activities, in politics, science, 
literature, and philosophy. But as the generations 
passed this became less and less true and Latin declined 
in practical value. It was retained as an official lan- 

182 



A NEW DEFENSE OF HUMANISM 

guage only by the Catholic branch of the Christian 
Church, it yielded to French as the language of diplo- 
macy, it became less and less the vehicle for scientific 
discussion, its literature could not compete in interest 
with the rising vernacular literatures, and finally at the 
end of the seventeenth century it gave place to the ver- 
nacular as the language of university instruction. If it 
was to be retained as the basis of the educational cur- 
riculum, it must be justified upon some other ground. 

The Doctrine of Formal Discipline. — A new justifica- 
tion was found in the theory of formal discipline. This 
theory is based upon Aristotle's "faculty" psychology, 
which considers the mind to be made up of certain ' ' fac- 
ulties," such as memory, reason, will, each of which 
needs special activities for its training and development. 
The theory of formal discipline maintained that the 
power developed in any faculty by the study of a school 
subject can be used equally well in any other subject 
or to meet any other experience in life ; that ju^t as the 
muscular strength developed by any physical exercise 
can be used for any purpose, so the power of memory 
or reason developed by exercise in any subject of study 
can render equal service in any other study or situation ; 
that the classical languages, because of the orderly ar- 
rangement of their parts, and mathematics, because of 
the universality of its principles, are peculiarly well 
adapted to training all the powers of the mind — espe- 
cially the two of most importance, the memory and the 
reason; that, therefore, it is unnecessary to teack 
other subjects in school because with the mental power 
obtained by the study of the classics and mathematics 
any other subject can be mastered with comparative ease ; 
and that, finally, any student who cannot measure up 
to a discipline in these particular subjects is incapable of 

183 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

higher intellectual development or of meeting the de- 
mand of the more responsible positions in life. In a 
word, the theory of formal discipline maintained that it 
is not the thing learned, but how it is learned that is 
important in education. Formal discipline, therefore, 
came into direct conflict with realism, which insisted that 
the first function of education is to provide the indi- 
vidual with a knowledge content which wiU give him 
an intelligent understanding of the natural and social 
world of which he is a part and in which he will perform 
his life work. 

Criticism of the Doctrine of Formal Discipline. — 
Psychology no longer holds that the mind is made up of 
a number of faculties, but that it functions as a unit, 
sometimes as thinking, sometimes as feeling, sometimes 
as doing, and that any mental experience, such as the 
study of a school subject, develops the whole mind, and 
not any faculty of it. In fact modern psychology af- 
firms that there is no such faculty as the memory, but 
that the mind has *' memories," e. g., of time, place, 
things ; and it denies that an ability to remember places 
is necessarily accompanied by an equal ability to re- 
member faces and dates. The critics of formal discipline, 
moreover, deny the accuracy of the analogy between the 
development of physical strength and mental power. It 
is not true that the strength developed by any physical 
exercise can be turned equally well to any use. The 
strength of the piano-mover cannot compare in value to 
that of the oarsman in racing, nor is the strength of the 
oarsman of equal value to that of the piano-mover in 
moving pianos. Similarly it is not true that the power 
of reason developed in the study of mathematics will be 
of equal service in the study of languages or in busi- 
ness. On the contrary, its value in any other field will 

184 



A NEW DEFENSE OF HUMANISM 

be proportionate to the identity of content and procedure 
in that field. The conclusion of the critics of formal 
discipline is, therefore, that there is no transfer of gen- 
eral ability, but only a transfer of ability in proportion to 
the similarity of the two activities. Hence there is need 
in education of a broad and rich curriculum so that the 
specific powers developed by the different subjects and 
' activities of the school can prepare the individual for 
the various situations and exigencies of life. More recent 
study of the problem has led to the belief that there is a 
transfer of ''ideals" from one field to another; e. g., the 
ideals of accuracy, thoroness and orderliness developed in 
the study of mathematics have an influence in setting up 
similar ideals in other subjects of study, which make 
the student disinclined to do work that does not measure 
up to those standards. 

Influence of the Doctrine of Formal Discipline in Edu- 
cation. — For two centuries schoolmasters had been de- 
veloping an elaborate technique for the teaching of the 
Latin and Greek languages. It was impossible that those 
subjects could be displaced by new subjects having no 
pedagogical technique, without arousing the utmost con- 
cern as to what might be the effect upon education. For 
a long time it was simply social inertia that kept the cur- 
riculum unchanged. Then men maintained that the es- 
tablished discipline in Latin and Greek had produced 
fine results: great minds had been fashioned by it. 
Finally, in their ignorance of a more analytical psychol- 
ogy, they developed the theory of formal discipline, 
which prevented their seeing the need of other subjects 
in the school curriculum. It is probably true that no edu- 
cational theory has wielded a comparable influence upon 
educational practice. Down to the very end of the nine- 
teenth century it was the accepted educational creed 

185 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

upon the part of the majority of persons engaged in 
elementary or higher education. This was true in every 
one of the great culture nations. The Germans borrowed 
the very word gymnasium, which with the Greeks meant 
a place for bodily discipline, to give to their chief edu- 
cational institution which was to be a place for mental 
discipline. And it was not until the present Kaiser used 
his influence to that end that the Realschule was placed 
upon a par with the Gymnasium as a fitting-school for 
the university. In England the control that the doctrine 
of formal discipline maintained was still more rigid ; 
down to the report of the Royal Commission of 1864 
the six to nine years spent by an English boy in a 
public school were devoted to a great extent to Latin and 
Greek prose composition and versification, in addition to 
a wide reading in Latin and Greek literature. Even the 
advocates of realism and utilitarianism in education were 
influenced by the theory of formal discipline and placed 
their chief emphasis upon science in the curriculum, not 
because of its socially useful character, but because it de- 
veloped a better general mental power than the classics. 
Tho a "modern side" was introduced in the great 
public schools and grammar schools of England as the 
result of the report of the Royal Commission in 1864, it is 
hy no means equal to the classical side in the estimation 
of those who control the schools. In America the social 
conditions attendant upon the opening up of a new coun- 
try necessitated the introduction of subjects of more di- 
rect or practical value into the schools, though formal 
discipline was held as a theory to the very end of the 
nineteenth century. The substitution of the academy 
for the Latin grammar school was a first step, and the 
introduction of the elective system in colleges and high 
schools a later step in the passing of its control. But 

186 



A NEW DEFENSE OP HUMANISM 

it was only yesterday that spelling, grammar, and arith- 
metic, the formal subjects of the elementary school cur- 
riculum, were defended as the best possible * ' to train the 
mind"; and many teachers of the older generation still 
consider that some of the content subjects, such as na- 
ture study, with which the formal subjects have been 
compelled to share their time, are for this reason either 
of inferior value or mere fads. 

The New Humanism. — It needs but slight reflection to 
perceive how deadly an influence the doctrine of formal 
discipline must have had upon the free expression of 
the human spirit. The student with a vivid imagination 
or a fine power of expressing ideas graphically or dra- 
matically was regarded with little favor in a school where 
discipline was the sole aim of education. We are antici- 
pating a little in speaking of the spirit of personality 
proclaimed by Goethe and Schiller, Lessing and Herder, 
in the latter part of the eighteenth century. Their be- 
lief in the moral mission of esthetic culture and of the 
need of incessant striving for higher activity had nothing 
in common with the educational theory of formal dis' 
cipline. At the court of the Duke of Weimar and at 
the Universities of Gottingen, Jena, and elsewhere the 
new humanism that arose again emphasized the value 
of the classical literatures to develop the all-round man 
by infusing into his being the vitalizing spirit of classical 
culture. But the spirit and the substance of the ancient 
life as found in its literature, not the study of its lan- 
guages as a discipline, became the aim. As Greek life 
and culture had more valuable lessons than Latin, the 
study of Greek language and literature superseded the 
Latin. The spiritual awakening in Germany with its 
longing for national unity and vitality which character- 
ized the early nineteenth century was a partial product 

187 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

of this movement. It was lost in the reaction that fol- 
lowed the downfall of Napoleon. All the forces of con- 
servatism in church and school welcomed the return of 
the theory of formal discipline in education as a bulwark 
of authority and tradition. 

Bibliography and Questions at close of Chapter XII. 



CHAPTER XII 

EATIONALISM IN EDUCATION— JOHN LOCKE AND THE 
ENLIGHTENMENT 

Outline. — After the religious wars of the seventeenth cen- 
tury almost eveiy aspect of human life in Europe was char- 
acterized by the dominance of tradition and authority. The 
movement to attain to a rational freedom was initiated by 
John Locke, the founder of the school of empiricism in phi- 
losophy. 

In education Locke has been classified as a realist, a nat- 
uralist, or a disciplinarian. While his views undoubtedly 
have elements in common with these schools, he makes the 
dominating aim in education the development of reason and 
the control of life by reason. 

Locke is the starting point of the rationalistic movement 
known as the "Enlightenment," the chief characteristic of 
which was the determination to apply the test of reason to 
everything and reject outright whatever would not stand that 
test. The greatest influence of the Enlightenment was wielded 
on the continent under the influence of Voltaire. 

Characteristics of the Early Eighteenth Century. — The 
latter part of the seventeenth and the early part of the 
eighteenth century were characterized by the dominance 
of tradition and authority in almost every aspect of 
human life. After the religious wars religion had set- 
tled down to a conformity to creeds and dogmas from 
which no divergence was permitted and which were de- 
structive of true religious feeling and action. The higher 
intellectual life of the universities was characterized by 

189 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

a lack of independent thinking and was devoted to lec- 
tures in Latin on the theological-classical scholasticism 
which had superseded that of the medieval period. Po- 
litical life was controlled chiefly by sovereigns and was 
based upon their ''divine right" to rule. Social life 
discovered superstitions of all kinds, as, for instance, 
witchcraft. Social institutions, state, Church, and school, 
had combined to destroy the individualism that had been 
the first fruit of the Renaissance. A great force was 
needed to rouse men from idle acquiescence in mere as- 
sumptions and traditions and stimulate them to use their 
own minds upon real facts instead of words, and thereby 
release themselves from the weight of the past and at- 
tain to a rational freedom. This was the work of the 
English philosopher John Locke. 

Career of John Locke (1632-1704). — ^Whether one con- 
siders Locke's writings in politics ("Treatises on Gov- 
ernment"), on religion (''Letters on Toleration"), on 
philosophy ("Essay on the Human Understanding") or 
on education ("Thoughts on Education," "Conduct of 
the Understanding"), one finds him the great advocate 
of freedom and reasonableness and the opponent of tra- 
ditional dogmas, political superstitions, and empty words 
divorced from things. His love of truth amounted al- 
most to a passion, and with him the sole guide to the 
attainment of truth was reason. His philosophy was es- 
sentially the clearing up and systematizing of our com- 
mon-sense beliefs, and has for that reason always made a 
strong appeal to the average intelligent layman. 

Locke came of Puritan ancestry, which may account 
for his love of political liberty. He received the educa- 
tion which the average young Englishman of good fam- 
ily was given in that day, viz., a preparatory training 
at a great public school, in his case Westminster, fol- 

190 



RATIONALISM IN EDUCATION 

lowed by a sojourn at one of the universities, in his case 
Oxford. At Oxford he was interested not only in philos- 
ophy, but also in physical science and medicine. He af- 
terwards became physician and tutor in the family of the 
Earl of Shaftesbury, and shared the political fortunes of 
that great statesman, being compelled to follow him into 
exile in Holland in 1683 and to remain there until the 
Revolution of 1688. Upon his return to England he 
wrote his ' ' Treatises on Government ' ' to justify the Rev- 
olution and was rewarded with several sinecure political 
positions, which enabled him to devote himself to study 
and writing. 

Difficulty of Classifying Locke. — Locke was well quali- 
fied to write on education. His medical studies, combined 
with the fact that nature had provided him with a frail 
physique, impressed upon him the importance of the 
physical well-being of the child. He was a distinguished 
psychologist, familiar with the phenomena of mental de- 
velopment. He was a man of the world, had traveled 
widely in western Europe and held important political 
positions. This made him competent, therefore, to evalu- 
ate human activities and to discuss the education best 
suited to meet their needs. Finally, he was a private 
tutor for a considerable number of years, and thereby 
had an opportunity to study the child 's reactions to edu- 
cational processes. His chief educational work, ''Some 
Thoughts Concerning Education," was written at the 
request of a friend who was concerned over the bringing- 
up of his son. For a thoro understanding of his views, 
the ''Thoughts" should be read in conjunction with his 
short essay, "The Conduct of the Understanding," a 
posthumous work on the development of the proper 
methods of reasoning. These two books were written 
without any purposed connection, and this fact, com- 

191 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

bined with Locke's versatility, permits writers on educa- 
tion to draw very different conclusions about his views. 
By some he is classified with Montaigne as a social 
realist, and the facts that he confines himself to consider- 
ing the education of a young gentleman, that he believes 
in tutorial training, that he insists upon a practical edu- 
cation for socially useful purposes, that therefore travel 
and such subjects as history and modern languages in- 
stead of Latin and Greek should make up the chief con- 
tent of study, all make plausible such a classification. 
Other writers on education classify Locke with the sense- 
realists, and his insistence that the materials of all knowl- 
edge come thru the senses by contact with things, his 
abhorrence of learning by heart, his belief in pleasant 
methods of teaching and mild discipline give some cause 
for such a classification. Still other writers place Locke 
in the school of naturalists, and the facts that Rousseau, 
the great exponent of that school, admits his indebted- 
ness to Locke, that both made physical education of 
primary importance, that both emphasized the natural 
curiosity of the child in his intellectual development, and 
that both believed in the theory of natural consequences 
in discipline offer some reasons for such a classification. 
Those who place Locke in any of the classes already men- 
tioned draw their conclusions chiefly from a study of his 
''Thoughts." The most recent classification, which em- 
phasizes rather the * ' Conduct of the Understanding, ' ' is 
to place him with those who hold to the disciplinary con- 
ception of education, tho no one who so classifies him 
maintains that he had anything in common with the 
rigid pedants of his day, who had divorced education 
from practical life and made it a matter of linguistic 
drill. They point out that Locke not only made physical 
education fundamental, but that he made it essentially 

192 



RATIONALISM IN EDUCATION 

a hardening process, a matter of scanty clothes, hard 
beds, prescribed diet, open air and no coddling. They 
also show that, when treating of moral education, Locke 
makes character the end of education and states that 
that end is to be obtained by the formation of good habits 
thru a long discipline of the desires. They admit that 
in the * * Thoughts, ' ' when treating of intellectual educa- 
tion, he devotes himself chiefly to the content of study, 
where he is in agreement with the realists. But they in- 
sist that Locke's true view of intellectual education is to 
be found in the ' * Conduct of the Understanding, ' ' where 
it is shown to consist in the formation of habits of 
thought thru discipline, particularly by the study of 
mathematics, and where he apparently professes a be- 
lief in the transfer of habits and power. 

Locke's Psychology. — A study of Locke's psychology 
will show that, while each of these views of Locke is 
true, they are all partial and all subordinate to the domi- 
nating aim in education, the development of reason and 
the control of life by reason. Locke denied the existence 
of innate ideas and predicated the ' ' blank-paper ' ' theory 
of the mind, i. e., that the mind came into the world like 
a piece of blank paper. Just as no marks could appear 
on the paper unless they were put there from outside, so 
the materials for all ideas come to the mind thru the 
senses as the result of experience with the external world. 
The simple ideas thus formed are developed into higher 
forms of mental life by reflection, i. e., by reasoning. 
The aim of education is virtue, which is to be attained 
only when "man is able to deny himself his own de- 
sires, cross his own inclinations, and purely follow what 
reason directs as best, tho the appetite lean the other 
way. ' ' But in childhood the reason is undeveloped, and 
the basis of moral and intellectual education must be 

193 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

the formation of good habits — good habits of thinking as 
well as good habits of action. This can only be accom- 
plished by repeating the action or mental power desired 
until it is acquired. "Would you have a man reason well, 
you must use him to it betimes, exercise his mind in ob- 
serving the connection of ideas, and follow them in train. 
. . . We are born to be, if we please, rational creatures ; 
but it is use and exercise only that make us so. . . .'' 
The materials for this training are to be found in the 
' ' Thoughts, ' ' the method in the ' ' Conduct. ' ' The train- 
ing is not only to aim at reason as the goal, but is itself 
to be characterized by reasonableness: hence the im- 
portance of basing method with children upon the child 's 
natural activities, especially play, so that study may be 
made a recreation instead of a burden; hence the use 
of praise and commendation instead of flogging as an 
incentive to study; hence the objection to excessive re- 
ligious instruction in early childhood and therefore the 
emphasis upon the secular aspect of education. The 
last recommendation in the ''Thoughts" is directed to 
those who * ' dare venture to consult their own reason in 
the education of their children rather than rely upon old 
customs.'' 

Influence of Locke. — Locke had a decisive influence 
upon education on the continent thru the restatement 
of his ideas by Rousseau and their acceptance by German 
experimenters, such as Basedow. He is usually credited 
with having caused the emphasis on physical training 
characteristic of English secondary schools. His influ- 
ence on the thought life of western Europe was even 
more profound, for he is the starting point of the ra- 
tionalistic movement known as the Enlightenment. 

The Enlightenment. — Ecclesiasticism, despite out- 
bursts against its authority, remained in control of 

194 



RATIONALISM IN EDUCATION 

thought and life down into the eighteenth century. It 
was everywhere allied to institutions that had been out- 
grown but had retained their repressive control of the in- 
dividual. The eighteenth century represents the final 
struggle of the individual to throw off the shackles of in- 
stitutions, religious, political, and social, which restricted 
his intellectual freedom and denied his natural right as a 
man. The first half of the century was devoted to the 
struggle for freedom to think for oneself and to prove 
one's freedom by testing all things human and divine 
by one's own reason. This is the period of rationalism 
called the Enlightenment. 

The movement began with John Locke in England, 
tho it had its greatest influence in France and Germany. 
Its chief characteristic was the determination to apply 
the test of reason to everything and reject outright what- 
ever would not stand that test. As an overemphasis 
upon one aspect of mental life is likely to result in a 
neglect of others, the Enlightenment not merely neg- 
lected the whole feeling side of life, but viewed with 
scorn enthusiasm and vague intuitions as the enemy of 
clear ideas and definitions. As most of the institutions 
of the day had elements that could not stand the test 
of a severely accurate analysis by reason, the Enlighten- 
ment was essentially destructive in nature, and inten- 
tionally so. The rationalists were determined to free the 
human mind from the control of supernatural terrorism 
and of traditional beliefs in religion, and to liberate the 
individual from the legal injustices and political tyranny 
of the state. In England the movement resulted merely 
in skepticism, in religion, and the growth of deism. De- 
ism rejects all revelation as irrational, and predicates a 
natural religion in which God acts in accord with un- 
changeable laws that have no special relation to mgiu. 

195 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

The Enliglitennient in France. — ^When the movement 
was brought to France by Voltaire (1694-1778) , it had a 
very different history. In England the Revolution of 
1688 had destroyed the political doctrine of divine right 
and had resulted in religious toleration. In France the 
Church exercised as strong a despotism over men 's minds 
as the state did over their bodies. Against the ob- 
scurantism and intolerance of the Church especially, 
Voltaire waged a lifelong war. In this he was assisted 
by the ''encyclopedists/' as the brilliant circle of think- 
ers were called who were engaged in compiling the new 
encyclopedia which popularized English science and 
philosophy and embodied the knowledge that man had 
so far attained. It was a losing battle that dogmatists 
in Church and state fought against the cold reasoning, 
biting sarcasm and scientific knowledge of such men as 
Diderot, Montesquieu, Turgot, and Helvetius. It must 
not be thought, however^, that the campaign waged by 
the rationalists against the outrageous abuses that ex- 
isted in Church and state was an evidence of their devo- 
tion to the rights of man. The rationalists were essen- 
tially aristocrats. They wished to substitute for the 
worthless aristocracy of blood an able aristocracy of 
intellect. They would willingly have accepted an en- 
lightened despot for France, such as Prussia had in 
Frederick the Great, Austria in Joseph II, or Russia in 
Catharine II. As the masses of men were not governed 
by reason, they and their woes had an academic interest 
for the rationalists; but the latter would have derided, 
quite as much as the aristocrats of the old regime, any 
participation of the masses in the control .of social af- 
fairs. 

Influence of the Enlightenment. — The social signifi- 
cance of the extreme individualism of the rationalists can 

196 



RATIONALISM IN EDUCATION 

be readily discerned. Man in his upward progress de- 
veloped institutions as the necessary expression of his 
own nature. He is only truly a man in so far as he 
participates in the life of those institutions, in so far 
as he is a father, neighbor, and citizen. To conceive 
him as a self-centered unit complete in himself without 
reference to social restrictions and complications is to 
conceive the anarchic society of the savage. Institutions 
must adjust themselves to new conditions in order that 
they may not repress the human spirit, but the adjust- 
ment must result from the action of the general reason, 
not of the purely individual reason. The rationalists 
repeated the mistake of the Greek Sophists. They de- 
stroyed the old moral sanctions based upon religion and 
custom, but provided no basis for a rational freedom. 
The result was inevitable, viz., to strengthen the influ- 
ences working towards social dissolution. 

For the individual to control his life by a coldly crit- 
ical reason and to suppress all spontaneity of feeling 
means for him to set up the standard of a purely pru- 
dential morality and to formalize life. And this is ex- 
actly what happened in the circles of the upper classes 
in England and on the Continent, for they alone were af- 
fected by the rationalistic philosophy of life. The young 
gentleman was taught to be prudent in expressing his 
opinions, to exercise moderation in his passions, and to 
conform to the religious and social demands of an arti- 
ficial society, however skeptical of them; above all to 
avoid all displays of naturalness as vulgar and irrational. 
While the Enlightenment did a tremendous human ser- 
vice in freeing the intellect from the bondage of dogma- 
tism and traditionalism, it did little to destroy the for- 
malism that controlled life everywhere in the eighteenth 
century. Idleness, artificiality, and the life of the draw- 

197 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

ing-room combined to make the dancing master the chief 
factor in the education of the unfortunate child of the 
aristocracy. To eradicate everything spontaneous and 
natural and to convert him into a miniature adult con- 
trolled by the formal and artificial code of the drawing- 
room was the dancing master's work. This is a fair 
statement of the characteristics of the aristocratic so- 
ciety in the eighteenth century; and when one remem- 
bers that the earlier revolts among the middle classes 
against religious formalism made by the English Puritans, 
French Jansenists, and German pietists had in their turn 
degenerated into a formal piety that was largely hypo- 
critical or fanatical, one can readily understand the en- 
thusiasm with which Rousseau's gospel of the return to 
the natural, simple, and emotional was received every- 
where in Europe. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Articles in Cyclopedia of Education on Formal Discipline, 
Rationalism, the Enlightenment, Locke, Voltaire, etc. 

CuBBERLEY, E. P. A Syllabus in the History of Education. 
Chap. XXXIII. 

Graves, F. P. A History of Education, Vol. II, pp. 305-311. 

Monroe, P. Textbook in the History of Education. Chap. 
IX. 

Parker^ S. C. The History of Modem Elementary Edu- 
cation. Chap. VII. 

Quick, R. H. Educational Reformers. Chap. XIII. 

. Locke on Education. 

Thorndike, E. L. Educational Psychology. Chap. VIII. 

QUESTIONS, COMPARISONS, AND TOPICS FOR 
FURTHER STUDY 

1. "What is the modem view of the "hardening process" in 
physical education maintained by Locke? 

198 



RATIONALISM IN EDUCATION 

2. Why was Lockers insistence that the materials of knowl- 
edge come thru the senses so long delayed in educational 
practice ? 

3. Does modem education place as much emphasis upon 
habit formation as the basis of character development as 
did Locke? 

4. What is the modem view of the mind at birth? Does 
it have innate ideas? Is it like a blank paper? 

5. Make a list of the various incentives to study used in edu- 
cation, and evaluate Locke's use of praise and commendation. 

6. Has education since the Renaissance placed an undue 
emphasis upon the development of reason as the aim of school 
training? 

7. Does the rationalists' low estimate of the value of the 
feelings and of the imagination account in any way for the 
small place occupied by the fine arts in education? 

8. In what respects do the rationalists of the Enlighten- 
ment resemble the philosophers of Plato's "Republic" ? 

9. In what respects does the Enlightenment resemble the 
Renaissance ? 



PART IV 

MODERN TIMES 

Characteristics: The triumph of individualism. The 
predominance of secular interests in education. The de- 
velopment of national, state-supported and state-con- 
trolled systems of schools. 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE EMOTIONAL REACTION AGAINST FORMALISM 
IN LIFE — NATURALISM IN EDUCATION — JEAN 
JACQUES ROUSSEAU 

Outline. — Rousseau was the great opponent of formalism 
and the great exponent of naturalism in life and education. 
He maintained that feeling, not reason, is the element common 
to all men, and was himself the exponent of his own beliefs. 

Rousseau's social philosophy is expounded in his "Social 
Contract" which is a proclamation of the rights of man, and 
which inspired much of the writing and action of the French 
Revolution. His educational philosophy is expounded in the 
"Emile" which is a proclamation of the rights of the child 
and is the beginning of the "new education." 

Natural education means giving the natural instincts, im- 
pulses, and feelings of the child unrestricted opportunity of 
expression. Hence it is a negative education, in which de- 
velopment results from experience, not from positive instruc- 
tion. Intellectually, it means relying upon the natural curiosity 
of the child; morally, upon natural punishments. 

The first attempt to realize Rousseau's teaching in school 
practice was undertaken by Basedow in Germany. His insti- 
tution, the Philanthropinum, had as a keynote "everything 
according to nature." It anticipated some of the reforms with 
which Pestalozzi's name is usually associated, and initiated a 
liberalizing tendency in German education. 

Rousseau and the Rationalists. — Rousseau was in many 
respects the child of the Enlightenment. The rational- 
ists had made individualism the central fact of their 

203 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

whole movement, and no one in history has emphasized 
the principle of individualism more than Rousseau. But 
in few other respects did Rousseau and the rationalists 
agree. He is the great apostle of the feelings in life. 
Feeling is the element common to all men, not reason. 
Control by reason leads to a cold, calculating selfishness, 
to a neglect of the common man. Control by feeling 
gives expression to the best in human nature and to love 
for one's fellow man. He was himself the exponent of 
his own beliefs. He was the slave of his feelings, in- 
stincts, and impulses and was a sentimentalist, if there 
ever was one. It was most natural that he should quar- 
rel, in turn, with Voltaire and with Diderot. He reacted 
most violently, not only against aristocratic, but also 
against intellectual formalism; not only against the in- 
difference and heartlessness of the aristocracy of birth, 
but also against the pretensions and narrowness of the 
aristocracy of intellect. With the rationalists he would 
do away with those institutions which the Middle Ages 
bequeathed, but which had been outlived and had be- 
come mere burdens. But unlike the rationalists he would 
do away also with all the petty conventions and artificial 
restrictions of society, and return to a simple and nat- 
ural state wherein no one would desire to lord it over 
his fellows. The emphasis in modern life upon the 
place of feeling in literature, art, and religion can be 
traced to Rousseau. 

Career of Kousseau (1712-1778). — Tho Rousseau gave 
voice to the hopes and aspirations which were stirring 
men's minds in his day, nevertheless his views on life 
and education were chiefly the result of his own personal 
experience. What those experiences were we learn 
chiefly from his ''Confessions," in which he lays bare 
his own soul and discovers himself to be a remarkable 

204 



EMOTIONAL REACTION AGAINST FORMALISM 

mixture of the attractive and the repulsive, of what is 
fine and what is vile. His life falls naturally into three 
periods: (1) the period of preparation, 1712-1750; (2) 
the period of productivity, 1750-1765, in which almost 
all his works were written; (3) the period of decline, 
1765-1778, when he was really semi-insane and led a 
wretchedly morbid existence. He was born at Geneva 
in 1712, of a dissolute father and a neurotic mother, and 
was brought up chiefly by a silly and sentimental aunt 
who fed his naturally vivid imagination upon trashy 
romances. His early education was very irregular, and 
during the four years he spent in trade apprenticeship 
to an engraver he learned, according to his own state- 
ments, more of lying, cheating, and shirking than he did 
of craftsmanship. The simple and earnest life of Geneva, 
however, left a deep impression upon his mind and after- 
wards furnished him with some of the materials for the 
ideal natural state of society which he proclaimed. At 
sixteen he ran away from Geneva and spent many years 
in a state of vagabondage, interspersed with desultory 
service in several wealthy families. These roving years 
provided him with the knowledge and love of nature 
afterwards shown in the ''Emile," and with the knowl- 
edge and the hatred of the wretched conditions of 
the mass of the people which helped inspire the ' * Social 
Contract. ' ' He finally gravitated to Paris, where he lived 
with a stupid and illiterate girl of the lower class, earn- 
ing their living in a variety of ways. During this period 
he showed a real interest and considerable ability in 
music. Finally, in 1750, the opportunity came to him 
to give expression to the views that had been germinat- 
ing in his mind for many years. The Academy of Dijon 
offered a prize for the best essay on the subject: ''Has 
the Progress of the Sciences and Arts Contributed to 

205 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

Corrupt or Purify Morals?" Rousseau wrote a brilliant 
essay which won the prize, perhaps more because of its 
fervor and literary style than of its logic. He main- 
tained the thesis that the sciences and arts have been 
inimical to morals. The book made him famous, and his 
essay ' ' On the Origin of Inequality Among Men, ' ' which 
he wrote three years later in competition for a second 
prize offered by the same Academy, tho it did not win the 
prize, was eagerly read. In 1759 he wrote his famous 
romance, ''The New Heloise," in which he emphasized 
the beauty of natural scenery and idealized romantic love 
and simple domestic life. The novel took Paris by storm 
and inspired its grandes dames to suckling their own in- 
fants, and residing in the country. It did more good, 
however, by preparing the public for the appearance of 
the "Social Contract" and the ''Emile" in 1762. The 
one was considered anti-monarchical and the other anti- 
religious, and the ' ' Emile ' ' was publicly burned in both 
Catholic Paris and Protestant Geneva. Rousseau was 
compelled to leave France and find refuge successively in 
Switzerland, Prussia, and England. He was able to re- 
turn to France, however, in 1770 and remain there until 
his death in 1778, finishing his ''Confessions" and lead- 
ing a half insane life. 

Rousseau's Social Philosophy. — In the two prize essays 
Rousseau proclaims the ideal society to be that of the 
natural state, i. e., of primitive man, a state in which 
men are unequal physically and mentally because they 
are so by nature, but are not unequal socially and 
live in a condition of contentment and happiness. 
Thru the rise of private property social inequalities com- 
menced, and the whole of history thenceforward is the 
story of the development of man from a condition of rela- 
tive equality to one of absolute inequality. In the "So- 

206 



EMOTIONAL EEACTION AGAINST FORMALISM 

cial Contract" Rousseau adopts the theory already put 
forward by Hobbes and Locke, that civil society origi- 
nated in a contract whereby men in return for security 
and certain other advantages gave up the unrestricted 
individual freedom which belongs to them by nature. 
This contract between the people and the rulers was 
solely for the general welfare, for civil society can only 
be justified by the advantages it brings to its members. 
Now, as a matter of fact, existing government protects 
the inequalities and social privileges that have grown up. 
Hence the contract no longer holds, and men should re- 
turn to the natural state. But the natural state of the 
"Social Contract" is not that of the prize essays, but a 
society organized under the rule of the people, wherein 
the individual, tho controlled by the general will, retains 
his freedom and can develop his natural capacities un- 
hampered. It is the exposition of these beliefs in the 
' ' Social Contract ' ' that inspired our own Declaration of 
Independence and the Declaration of the Rights of Man 
in the French Revolution. 

Rousseau's Educational Philosophy. — If the "Social 
Contract" is a proclamation of the rights of man, the 
"Emile" is a proclamation of the rights of the child. 
The child must be freed from the repressing customs 
and training that have been imposed upon him, just as 
the man must be emancipated from the perverted institu- 
tions that prevent his free action. We must educate the 
child ' ' according to nature ' ' ; and to do so we must study 
his nature to find out whether there are any laws dis- 
coverable in him comparable to the laws governing phys- 
ical phenomena. The "Emile" is really the first im- 
portant treatise on child study. Hence when impressed 
by the inconsistencies and paradoxes that may be found 
in it, one must remember its pioneer character and the 

207 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

need felt by Rousseau of startling people into a knowl- 
edge of the absurdities and outrages of the prevailing 
education by using all the devices of the rhetorician. 

The keynote of the philosophy of this revolutionary 
work, which is an educational treatise in the guise of a 
romance, is given in the opening sentence. ' ' Everything 
is good as it comes from the hands of the Author of na- 
ture : but everything degenerates in the hands of man. ' ' 
Human nature, then, is good ; there is no original sin ; 
there is no total depravity as taught by the theologians. 
If the child is by nature good at birth, then the instincts, 
impulses, inclinations, and feelings of which he is made 
are good. Why should any restrictions be placed upon 
his free development? Why is not the best education a 
negative education, wherein no positive instruction is 
given in the subjects ordinarily foisted upon the child, 
but wherein his own individual nature, his own natural 
capacities, his own natural inclinations shall have free 
play ? Negative education does not mean doing nothing. 
It means allowing the organs whereby knowledge is ob- 
tained to become perfected before the knowledge itself 
is presented. Physically negative education means free- 
dom from restrictions on the child 's natural activity, and 
the observance of all the good rules as to sleep, diet, air, 
and clothing which Locke had formulated and which 
Rousseau borrowed. Intellectually it means relying upon 
the natural curiosity of the child and upon an appeal 
to his interest, so that his senses shall have become sharp- 
ened and his judgment properly exercised for use at the 
age of twelve, when the child has enough surplus energy 
to undertake the acquisition of knowledge. Morally it 
means the discipline of consequences or "natural punish- 
ments.'* Nature's punishment for any infraction of her 
laws is never arbitrary, but always the inevitable conse- 

208 



EMOTIONAL REACTION AGAINST FORMALISM 

quence of the infraction itself. So the child should not 
be scolded nor whipped, but should be permitted to suf- 
fer the natural results of his own acts. 

The principle of natural punishments has had such an 
influence upon subsequent writers on education that it is 
worth while to consider briefly wherein it is valuable and 
wherein impracticable. (1) It is of service in removing 
the human element in the problem of discipline. The 
child feels no resentment, as in the case of punishment 
inflicted by parent or teacher. (2) It is an excellent 
illustration of the principle of cause and effect, when 
the child is old enough to appreciate such a principle. 
(3) But it is unsatisfactory in that it is sometimes too 
severe and sometimes not severe enough. Overeating 
may result in permanent injury to the digestive system, 
whereas the natural result of lying, viz., not being be- 
lieved even when one speaks the truth, is too remote 
to affect the child to any great extent. (4) It may pun- 
ish others more than the child. To leave a child at home 
as the natural consequence of not being ready to catch 
the train for a picnic means for the parent or teacher 
to worry during the picnic about the child. (5) It would 
result in a merely prudential morality. The positive 
and finer virtues like unselfishness and magnanimity can 
never be developed by a consideration of consequences 
only. 

We have still to consider one other implication in the 
opening sentence of the "Emile." If ''everything de- 
generates in the hands of man, ' ' then society and its in- 
stitutions, which are the results of man's work, must be 
bad, and it must be admitted that there was much in 
Rousseau 's day to justify such a conclusion. The educa- 
tional inference is that the child must be removed from 
such associations and brought to the country where, un- 

209 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

der the direction of a tutor, the principles of negative 
education enumerated above can be worked out in con- 
tact with nature alone. 

Periods in the Development of the Child. — Rousseau 
revolted violently against the prevailing practice of 
treating children as miniature adults. He insisted that 
the child's life could be divided roughly into periods of 
growth, for each of which there were appropriate ac- 
tivities. The periods were as follows : from birth to five 
years, from five to twelve, from twelve to fifteen, from 
fifteen to twenty. To each of these periods he devotes 
a book of the ' ' Emile, ' ' a fifth book being devoted to the 
education of girls, as typified by Sophie, whom Emile 
afterwards marries. 

First Period (from Birth to Five Years). — The first 
book of the ' ' Emile ' ' is devoted chiefly to the exposition 
of the general principle which we have already discussed. 
But it treats also specifically of the training of the child 
to his fifth year. It must not be supposed that Rous- 
seau 's negative education means that the child is to have 
no supervision. The mother is to nurse her own child, 
and the father is to direct his training when training 
begins. The aim is to make of him a healthy little ani- 
mal, and that is to be accomplished by letting nature 
alone. There is to be no forcing process, e. g., the child 
will learn to walk without any teaching. One must re- 
move all restraint on his physical freedom, must let him 
play in the open country with only natural objects as 
his toys, and must attempt to teach him no ideas of right 
and wrong, for he cannot understand them. 

Second Period (from Five to Twelve). — Physical de- 
velopment thru running, jumping, climbing, and swim- 
ming, intellectual development thru sensory and motor 
activities impelled by the child's curiosity, and moral 

210 



EMOTIONAL REACTION AGAINST FORMALISM 

development thru the discipline of consequences make 
up the life of the child during this period. His education 
is the very opposite of the one then prevalent. He is 
taught neither reading, writing, history nor literature. 
But he learns of his own accord to measure distances, to 
compare the weights of things, to draw objects, and to 
make his own inferences, as the result of his constant 
contact with objects and natural phenomena. Sense 
perception, motor activity, and intellectual development 
go hand in hand in the education of experience received 
by Eniile under the supervision of the teacher, who is to 
guide but not teach. 

Third Period (from Twelve to Fifteen). — During the 
years from twelve to fifteen, according to Rousseau, the 
child has more strength than he needs ; hence this is the 
period which can best be devoted to the acquisition of 
knowledge. But the acquisition of knowledge is still to 
be determined by natural desires, i. e., by curiosity and 
interest. As not everything can be learned, only what is 
useful and comprehensible shall be attempted, and that 
means science. Science deals with the concrete and 
gives opportunity for training not merely in observation, 
but in investigation and inference. But it must be science 
as nature presents it, not in the logical order of the 
books: e. g., Emile learns geography from the topogra- 
phy of the country about his home, not from maps and 
globes which would give him misleading ideas. The only 
exception to Rousseau 's opposition to books is ' ' Robinson 
Crusoe," which is the first book that Emile reads, be- 
cause it is a study of ''life according to nature." It 
gives a knowledge of the natural needs of man and of 
the means for providing for them, and is a fine incentive 
to participation in manual work. Emile, in fact, learns 
during this period the trade of cabinet-making — for its 

211 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

» 

economic value in providing a livelihood, if necessary; 
for its social value in enhancing the dignity of labor; 
and for its educational value in developing skill and in 
keeping the body sufficiently exercised. 

Fourth Period (from Fifteen to Twenty). — To fifteen 
Entile has been educated solely for himself and by him- 
self, hence his education has been primarily physical. 
But at fifteen sex interests appear; and as sex interests 
form the basis of moral and social life, the education of 
this period is one of social relationships, of learning to 
live with one 's fellows. Even this, however, is primarily 
an education of experience, not of instruction. Emile 
is brought by his tutor into natural contact with all kinds 
of men and situations, to learn thereby to do good and 
avoid evil. If the experience would be too dangerous, 
then the lesson can be learned from history. In this 
period also he is to receive his religious training. To 
this time he has not even known that there is a God, and 
he learns of the existence of God now thru his manifes- 
tation in nature. Natural as against revealed religion 
is the aim. To teach children religion is to impose upon 
them forms, ceremonies, and dogmas, which may result 
in their being good sectarians but will not make them 
reverence God or love their neighbor. Religion is a 
matter of the heart, not of the head ; it is to be felt, not 
reasoned out. 

The Education of Woman. — The fifth and last book of 
the ' * Emile ' ' is devoted to the education of Sophie, whom 
Emile marries. Since woman is *'by nature" different 
from man, there must be a corresponding difference in 
their education. But with Rousseau the difference is 
so pronounced as to make him contradict the funda- 
mental principle of his philosophy of education, viz., that 
the education of each individual is to be determined by 

212 



EMOTIONAL REACTION AGAINST FORMALISM 

the needs and rights of his own personality. Indeed, he 
uncovers a low view of womanhood. Woman has no in- 
dividuality, her life is to be wholly supplementary to 
man's. She is to be physically trained in order to bear 
strong children ; to be taught singing, dancing, embroid- 
ery, designing, in order to please men ; to receive an early 
education in morals and religion in order to secure a 
good home life for her family. In other words, while 
Rousseau was a century ahead of his time in discussing 
the education of the boy, he varies but little from his 
time in considering the education of the girl. None of 
the great influence he had upon subsequent educators 
can be traced to what he says in his fifth book. 

Estimate of the "Emile." — The education of the indi- 
vidual consists of the action of two factors: nature and 
nurture. One can no more say that one of these factors 
is more important than the other than he can say that 
the factor three is more important than the factor two 
in arriving at the product six. Education, from the time 
when the Renaissance degenerated into narrow hu- 
manism, had taken into consideration nurture only. The 
aim of school work was to produce the learned man, and 
the child was looked upon as a learning animal. The 
sooner he could be transformed thru nurture into the 
man, the sooner would education accomplish its work. 
This was best done by transferring to him the accumu- 
lated product of man 's mental activity, especially litera- 
ture. Hence the emphasis upon memory, hence the neg- 
lect of the thing for the word, hence the need of rigid 
discipline to accomplish what was necessarily a hard 
task. Against all this the ''Emile" was a revolt to the 
other extreme, of making education a matter of nature 
only. There was to be no nurture, no training, no dis- 
cipline, no instruction, only the unrestricted develop- 

213 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

ment of the powers with which nature endows the indi- 
vidual. In other words, in the "Emile" the child re- 
places the subject matter as the central fact in education. 
The work of the ' ' Emile ' ' was of necessity primarily de- 
structive, and it performed a great service in clearing 
the ground of much educational rubbish preparatory to 
laying a new foundation. Altho the * ' Emile ' ' provides 
an impossible scheme for educating the individual for 
social life, it is so full of suggestiveness concerning the 
aims, content, and processes of education as to be the 
starting point of the new education. 

The New Education. — The education of the nineteenth 
century was characterized by three tendencies whose in- 
fluence is still pervasive, viz., the psychological, the 
scientific, and the sociological. Education was considered 
to be essentially a matter of development from within, 
not of accretion from without. This development was 
to be based upon the native instincts and impujses of 
the child, which were no longer regarded as low-grade 
things. They and all the other natural forces and ac- 
tivities of the child had of necessity to be studied ; hence 
the first influence of Rousseau upon education was to 
psychologize it, to direct it to child study. He knew 
little of psychology himself, but he had a deep sympathy 
with children and an intuitive knowledge of their na- 
ture; and his views, however distorted, became the in- 
spiration of the work of Pestalozzi, Herbart, and Froebel. 
The second influence of Rousseau upon education re- 
sulted from his emphasis upon physical nature as pro- 
viding its proper culture material. His opposition to 
books, and his insistence upon things as alone offering op- 
portunity for the play of the child's curiosity, interest, 
and activity directed attention to nature study ; and na- 
ture study is the A B C of science. The tendency dur- 

214 



EMOTIONAL REACTION AGAINST FORMALISM 

ing the nineteenth century to give a larger and larger 
place to science in the content of education undoubtedly- 
received its start from Rousseau. The third influence of 
Rousseau upon education, viz., to socialize it, seems al- 
most a paradox. His solution of the problem of the re- 
conciliation of individual liberty with social stability 
would result in social anarchy. But the impossible edu- 
cation for social living suggested by him in the fourth 
book of the "Emile" misled no educator who was in- 
spired by his views. On the contrary those who best 
caught the true spirit of his teachings have all empha- 
sized the social aspects of education. His intense sym- 
pathy for his fellow man, especially for the poor, his 
insistence upon the emotional as against the intellectual 
in education, his demand for the teaching of a trade, have 
all inspired movements that have had for their aim em- 
phasis upon the democratic, moral, and industrial aspects 
of education. 

Influence of the "Emile" upon Schools. — Upon the 
chief culture peoples of Europe Rousseau had a pro- 
found influence, but not always in the same way. He 
started the romantic movement in literature, with its 
emphasis upon the heroic and sentimental, its apprecia- 
tion of natural scenery, and its interest in the life of 
the common people as against that of the court. And 
the romantic movement had a great influence upon the 
literatures of France, England, and Germany. His po- 
litical and social theories were undoubtedly a contribut- 
ing cause to the great revolution in France. They also 
had considerable influence in Germany and some slight 
influence in England. His educational views as por- 
trayed in the ' ' Emile ' ' had no effect upon the prevailing 
education in France, for the '* Emile" was anathema to 
both Church and state. They had no influence in Eng- 

215 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

land, where they did not appeal to the practical common 
sense of the Englishman. The first attempt to realize 
Rousseau's teachings in school practice was made in 
Germany, the home of so many experiments in education. 
Johann Bernard Basedow (1723-1790). — Despite the 
efforts of realists and pietists education in Germany con- 
tinued to be dominated by ecclesiastical formalism dur- 
ing the eighteenth century. The catechism and the Latin 
grammar still reigned supreme, necessitating memorizing 
the uncomprehended in study; and harshness in disci- 
pline was universal. Children's activity and curiosity 
continued to be looked upon as evil tendencies, and 
school life was, therefore, a dismal and joyless affair. 
The publication of the *'Emile" came as the breath of 
a new life to German students of education, and among 
the first to be affected was Basedow. He resembled 
Rousseau temperamentally, being irresponsible, immoral, 
and unstable; he hated the narrow-minded sectarianism 
which controlled German life and education, and he 
started a movement which resulted in a remarkable 
change. In the first part of his career he was engaged 
in a theological controversy with the orthodox party, 
which resulted in his being denied a teaching position 
in any public institution. He became a private tutor, 
and as such showed remarkable ability in correlating his 
pupils' play with work and their intellectual activities 
indoors with nature outdoors. Taking advantage of the 
great interest aroused by Rousseau's ''Emile," he pub- 
lished in 1768 **An Address to Philanthropists and Men 
of Property on Schools and Studies and Their Influence 
on the Public Welfare." In this he made an appeal 
for money with which first to publish proper textbooks 
and secondly to organize a school according to the new 
ideas. The appeal contained two striking suggestions, 

216 



EMOTIONAL REACTION AGAINST FORMALISM 

viz., that schools should be secularized, and that they 
should be nationalized. The response was most generous, 
the money coming from all classes and from all coun- 
tries. It enabled Basedow in 1774 to issue his two books,, 
''Das Elementarwerk " (The Elementary Work), and 
**Das Methodenbuch" (The Book of Method), both 
of which received a most enthusiastic reception. ''The 
Elementary Work" was really the first reformed text- 
book that had been issued since Comenius published the 
"Orbis Pictus." It was, in fact, modeled upon the 
"Orbis Pictus," which Basedow had used with his 
private pupils. Its use was to result in a knowledge 
primarily of natural objects and phenomena, and it was 
accompanied by a book of illustrations. In the "Book 
of Method" Rousseau's method of learning by experience 
was advocated thruout, e. g., foreign languages were 
to be taught by the natural method, i. e., the conversa- 
tional method instead of the grammatical. 

The Philanthropinum. — Basedow was not content to 
publish his views in books ; he wished to realize them in 
practice. With the generous assistance of the Prince of 
Dessau he opened at Dessau in 1774 an institution which 
he called the "Philanthropinum." As the name indi- 
cates, the love of mankind was to dominate and the chil- 
dren of the rich and poor were to be taught together. 
The keynote of the school was "everything according to 
nature." Rousseau's views were in constant evidence. 
The children were simply and loosely dressed, and phys- 
ical exercises and games were provided for their bodily 
training. Nature study, chiefly by means of excursions 
in the neighborhood, and lessons from things and pictures 
to train the senses formed an important part of the 
work. All the teaching was in the vernacular and, altho 
Latin was retained for reasons of expediency, it, like 

217 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

French, was taught by the natural method. All were 
given instruction in handicrafts, but the children of 
the rich spent at them only two of the eight school hours 
daily and the children of the poor, six. The method of 
teaching arithmetic, geography, physics, and geometry 
had in each case the aim to make the work as practical 
as possible and to relate it as closely as possible to the 
interests and comprehension of the pupils. 

Influence of the Philanthropinic Movement. — Basedow 
had associated with him some excellent teachers, and his 
institution started out under the most favorable condi- 
tions. But his infirmities of .temper and character were 
such that his best teachers found it impossible to work 
with him. Moreover, he was a great boaster and disap- 
pointed his supporters by the non-fulfillment of his ex- 
travagant promises. He was compelled within a few 
years to sever his connection with the Dessau institution, 
and under other men it survived only till 1793. But 
that institution was not by any means the finest exponent 
of the philanthropinic movement. Christian Salzmann 
(1744-1811), who was probably the best of Basedow's 
associates at Dessau, opened at Schnepfenthal a Philan- 
thropinum that was by far the most successful of 
the many imitations of Basedow's institution which 
sprang up all over Germany. It continues in prosperous 
existence to the present day. Salzmann 's school un- 
doubtedly anticipated successfully many of the reforms 
afterwards introduced into elementary education by 
Pestalozzi, and the philanthropinic movement as a whole 
blazed the way for the changes with which the name of 
Pestalozzi is usually associated. 

One other result of the philanthropinic movement was 
the literature written for children by Basedow's associ- 
ates. Some of these children's books were excellent, em- 

218 



EMOTIONAL REACTION AGAINST FORMALISM 

bodying the new educational material in an attractive 
form, but many were filled with tedious moralizing and 
sermonizing in childish form. They inspired, however, 
the writing of the ' ' Swiss Family Robinson ' ' in the next 
generation, which is familiar to the children of every 
civilized land, and they were the direct ancestors of the 
splendid literature for children with which education 
is provided today. 

The Naturalists and the Problem of Government and 
liberty. — How do the naturalists solve the ever present 
problem of reconciling individual liberty and social sta- 
bility? The rationalists had ignored the importance of 
institutional control. They had minimized the fact that 
the individual is born into society, and that society for 
its own preservation had developed institutions which are 
necessary to its growth and stability but which are re- 
strictions upon the freedom of individual action. Rous- 
seau and his adherents went further : Rousseau 's whole 
philosophy of society and education was based upon the 
exaltation of the individual above society ; the anti-social 
education of Emile, removed from social intercourse and 
control, aiming at development not only by himself, but 
only for himself, could but result in a social anarchist. 
The Reign of Terror was the natural product of Rous- 
seau's teaching, and a period of reconstruction was 
necessary in society and education, under men better 
qualified than he to realize individuality in life without 
destroying social bonds. But never had social reliance 
upon the forces of mere authority and tradition re- 
ceived such a blow as that dealt by Rousseau. And that 
blow was a necessary preliminary to any sound recon- 
struction that would attempt to harmonize these two 
aspects of human life. 



219 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Articles in Cyclopedia of Education on Rousseau, Basedow, 
Naturalism, Philanthropinum, etc. 

Boyd, W. The Educational Theory of Rousseau. 

CuBBERLEY, E. P. Syllabus in the History of Education. 
Chaps. XXIII-XXV. 

Davidson, T. Rousseau and Education According- to Nature. 

Graves, F. P. A History of Education. Vol. III. Chap. 

I-II. 

Monroe, P. A Textbook in the History of Education. 
Chap. X. 

Parker, S. C. A History of Modern Elementary Education. 
Chap. IX. 

Quick, R. H. Educational Reformers. Chaps. XIV-XV. 

Rousseau, J. J. Emile. Translated by Payne. Appleton 
edition. 

QUESTIONS, COMPARISONS, AND TOPICS FOR 
FURTHER STUDY 

1. Name five natural instincts of the child upon which 
education builds today. Of what use in the disciplining of 
pupils is a teacher's knowledge of the instincts of children? 
Illustrate. 

2. Can the education of the average American school be 
profitably made more "negative" today? 

3. To what extent can the school today build upon "the 
discipline of consequences"? 

4. It is sometimes said that Montaigne, Locke, and Rous- 
seau form a natural sequence. Point out wherein their views 
agree, and where they do not agTce. 

5. Did Rousseau's preaching result in more attention to 
the feelings in education? If so, how; if not, why not? 

6. Was the education of Emile calculated to develop a 
strong will? 

7. Was Rousseau justified in his emphasis upon country 
life as essential to the education of the child? 

220 



EMOTIONAL REACTION AGAINST FORMALISM 

8. Does Rousseau's denunciation of book work hold true 
in our education today? 

9. We have many instances of the country boy seeking his 
fortune in the city and succeeding. Would that be the prob- 
able fate of a country boy educated like Emile? 

10. Is education today founded upon the belief that men 
and women are "by nature" different? 

11. What success has accompanied the introduction into 
our schools of the "natural" method of teaching languages'? 

12. Was the education of Emile a "cheat," as Davidson 
says, because Emile was unwittingly led into knowledge by his 
tutor? 

13. Why did Rousseau, who built his education upon ex- 
perience, give so little place to the experience of others as 
embodied in literature, history, institutions? 



CHAPTER XIV 

PSYCHOLOGIZING EDUCATION— THE METHODIZEES, 
PESTALOZZI, HERBAKT, FROEBEL 

Outline. — The psychological movement was based upon child 
study and, as one result, elementary education became the chief 
concern of those engaged in either the theory or the practice of 
education. It led to better methods of teaching, better train- 
ing of teachers, and a better understanding of the educational 
process. These results came from the work of a number of 
reformers, chief among whom were Pestalozzi, Herbaii, and 
Froebel. 

A. Pestalozzi. Pestalozzi's career falls naturally into three 
periods: (1) The period of experiment with industrial educa- 
tion at Neuhof. (2) The period of literary activity for social 
and educational reform, in which he published "Leonard and 
Gertrude" and "How Gertrude Teaches Her Children." (3) 
The period of refonn in teaching elementary school subjects. 
This work he carried on at Burgdorf and Yverdon. 

Pestalozzi considered sense-perception to be the real founda- 
tion of our knowledge, and observation the basis of all in- 
struction. He aimed to analyze knowledge in each of the 
elementary subjects into its simplest elements and to proceed 
by a graduated series of exercises to what was more complex 
and difficult. While unscientific in his work, Pestalozzi initiated 
a movement which resulted in great changes in the aim, spirit, 
and methods of elementary education. 

Pestalozzi never returned to the problem of combining in- 
dustrial with intellectual education after the failure of the 
experiment at Neuhof; but his friend Fellenberg solved it 
with great success at Hofwyl, Switzerland, and his institutes 
were copied in many places in Europe and the United States. 

222 



PSYCHOLOGIZING EDUCATION 

B. Herbart. Herbart makes character the end of edu- 
cation; it is to be secured by the development of a many- 
sided interest. Man's interests come from his experience with 
things and his intercourse with people; hence the need of 
scientific subjects and of historical subjects, the latter of 
which are the more important. The mind of the pupil is 
largely the result of the teacher's instruction, which — to be 
educative — should be based upon apperception, should follow 
certain formal steps of the recitation, and conform to the prin- 
ciple of correlation of subjects. Herbart's disciple, Ziller, de- 
veloped the principle of correlation into the culture-epoch 
theory, and with others assisted in the spread of Herbartianism 
in Gennany. Herbartianism has had a profound influence 
upon the content and methods of teaching in the United States. 

C. Froebel. Froebel states the aim of education to be 
the development of the inborn capacities and powers of the 
child. Self -activity or motor-expression is the method of de- 
velopment, and social participation is the means of develop- 
ment. These principles Froebel attempted to realize in a 
new institution, the kindergarten, by using the materials 
known as play -songs, gifts, and occupations. The mysticism 
and symbolism which characterized Froebel's education re- 
tarded its expansion at first; but the most important streams 
of thought in present elementary education flow from Froebel ; 
and his institution, the kindergarten, has spread thru Europe 
and the United States. 

Characteristics of the Psychological Movement. — It has 
been seen that Rousseau struck a new note in educa- 
tion, in that he proclaimed that education was essentially 
a matter of the free and unrestricted development of 
the powers implanted in the individual by nature. It 
has also been seen that this view was a reaction against 
the prevailing disciplinary conception that the indi- 
vidual is by nature bad and must be fashioned into a dif- 
ferent being thru human nurture. What was needed 

223 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

was a reconciliation of these two views — ^that education 
was a matter of human nurture, and that it was a matter 
of natural development — each of which contained ele- 
ments of truth. This reconciliation was impossible so 
long as the idea prevailed that the mind was something 
distinct from the body, that it had somehow become 
lodged in it but was not of it. Such a view necessitated 
that all discussion of mental phenomena be metaphysical 
and speculative. But as the result of the start given 
by Rousseau the conviction of the intimate relation be- 
tween mind and body gradually became accepted. This 
meant that mental phenomena could be understood not 
by means of metaphysical speculation but chiefly thru 
careful observation and experiment; and that education 
must be organized upon the results of such study. Pesta- 
lozzi, who had but a faint glimmer of the truth, groped 
towards it in a purely empirical way. Herbart is the 
turning point in the psychological movement, because, 
tho time and more precise knowledge have made it neces- 
sary to modify his conclusions, nevertheless he based 
them upon a scientific study of the mind. But the old 
conception of education was so thoroly intrenched in the 
school that the history of education in the nineteenth 
century is the story of the conflict between the place of 
nature and that of nurture in education, or, phrased in 
its later form, between the education *'of interest" and 
the education ''of effort." It remained for John Dewey 
at the close of the century to indicate the basis of the 
hoped-for reconciliation. The psychological movement 
concerned itself primarily with the nature of the mind 
and its workings. Hence it brought about not so much 
changes in the subject matter of education, nor in its 
proper organization and administration (tho these were 
concomitants of the movement) , but rather it led to bet- 

224 



PSYCHOLOGIZING EDUCATION 

ter methods of teaching, better training of teachers, and 
a better understanding of the nature of the educational 
process. Moreover, because the movement was based 
upon child study, elementary education for the first time 
supplanted secondary education as the chief concern of 
those engaged in either the theory or the practice of 
education. 

A. THE PESTALOZZIAN MOVEMENT 

Career of Pestalozzi (1746-1827).— The first of the 
men inspired by Rousseau who attempted, as he him- 
self expressed it, **to psychologize" education was 
Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi. It is probably more neces- 
sary to study his career than that of most educators, be- 
cause his principles are the direct outgrowth of his ex- 
periences. He was bom in the Swiss town of Zurich 
in 1746. Altho his mother was left a widow when he 
was but five years old, by her thrift and intelligence she 
was able to send him thru the vernacular and Latin 
schools and the university. The loving but well-regu- 
lated home life that characterized his childhood made a 
deep impression upon him and inspired him to make it 
the spirit that should dominate the schoolroom. Under 
the influence of his grandfather, the pastor of a neigh- 
boring town, he studied to be a minister, but was un- 
successful. He was much impressed by the wretched con- 
dition of the unfortunate peasants and afterwards 
studied law in order to become their champion. Upon 
the publication of the *'Emile" and the ''Social Con- 
tract, ' * like so many of the young Swiss patriots he was 
inspired to revolutionary propaganda and came into 
conflict with the government. This first period of his 
life ended in 1769, when he married the beautiful and 

225 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

intelligent daughter of a Zurich merchant, who from 
that moment until her death was his strongest support 
in time of trouble and discouragement. From the date 
of his marriage until his death in 1827 Pestalozzi's life 
falls naturally into three periods: (1) the period of 
experiment in industrial education for juvenile delin- 
quents (1774-1780) ; (2) the period of literary activity 
for social and educational reform (1780-1798) ; (3) the 
period of reform in the teaching of elementary school 
subjects (1798-1827). 

1. The Neuhof Experiment. — When Pestalozzi was 
married in 1769, he bought a farm which he called 
Neuhof ; and in 1774 he determined to attempt to realize 
upon it one of the important principles of the naturalists, 
viz., that the character of the individual is shaped by 
environment and that the character will be good in 
proportion to the extent that the environment is natural. 
Pestalozzi had already written his ''Journal of a 
Father," which was the result of his experiment in at- 
tempting to bring up his young son according to the 
principles of Rousseau. He had discovered that those 
principles would need much modification in practice and 
rightly concluded that the most natural environment for 
a child was a home dominated by the spirit of strict but 
loving discipline. He determined, therefore, to take in 
some twenty vagrant children of both sexes and so or- 
ganize their daily life that they could support them- 
selves by industrial work while receiving an elementary 
education in reading, writing, and ciphering and while 
living under the best moral and religious influences of 
a good home. The boys learned practical farm work and 
the girls household work, and both were taught spinning 
and weaving. Tho there was no direct relation between 
the industrial work and the formal instruction, the ex- 

226 



PSYCHOLOGIZING EDUCATION 

periment was a great success in showing the inspiring in- 
fluence of properly organized manual work as a supple- 
ment to formal instruction. The improvement in the 
mental, moral, and physical condition of the children 
was remarkable. It encouraged Pestalozzi to increase the 
number of children until there were eighty, too many for 
either his executive or his financial ability, even tho he 
had the assistance of friends. In 1780 the experiment 
had to be given up because of the bankruptcy of the 
reformer. 

2. The Period of Literary Activity, — The next eight- 
een years of Pestalozzi 's life were devoted chiefly to 
literary work in the cause of social and educational re- 
form, and incidentally for the support of his family. He 
was naturally much interested in the French Revolution, 
and tho at first fearful of its influence upon Switzerland, 
he eventually became a strong propagandist for the revo- 
lutionary principles, writing many pamphlets with the 
idea, usually, of educational reform as the necessary 
precursor of social reform. Early in this period, in 1781, 
he wrote the most famous of his books, "Leonard and 
Gertrude." Like Rousseau's *'Emile," the book was 
written in the form of a novel to teach a great lesson in 
social and educational reform. It describes the degraded 
condition of the peasantry^ of Bonnal, a fictitious village 
of Switzerland, which is gradually transformed thru 
the influence of a peasant woman, Gertrude. By her de- 
votion and skill she succeeds in reforming her drunken 
husband Leonard, in educating her children, in inspir- 
ing her neighbors by her example, and in attracting the 
attention of the authorities to her reforming work, until 
they are convinced that it is the way whereby the coun- 
try as a whole can be redeemed. As a "book for people" 
it failed, since the great mass of them could not read; 

227 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

but it was enthusiastically received by the intelligent 
public of Europe, ready at that time for any suggestion 
for social reform. Pestalozzi, however, was convinced 
that the public read the book merely as a novel and 
missed its educational significance. He accordingly 
wrote several continuations of it to give in greater de- 
tail his educational ideas, but the additions ^never in- 
terested the public in the same way as the original. 

3. Festalozzi's Experiments in Elementary School 
Methods. — a. Stanz. — In 1798 a complete change 
took place in Pestalozzi's career; from theorizing about 
educational reform he took to practicing it. In that 
year the French troops massacred the inhabitants of 
Stanz, and the government asked Pestalozzi to establish 
an institution in an old convent to care for the orphans 
left destitute by the massacre. Pestalozzi started out 
with the idea which he had attempted to realize at Neu- 
hof, viz., to establish an industrial school for poor chil- 
dren in which the emphasis would be placed upon the 
manual work, with a few additional hours of formal 
teaching. But difficulties arose on every side. The win- 
ter was most severe, and there was no equipment to carry 
on the practical work in industry. The emphasis of ne- 
cessity was shifted to the work of instruction, but there 
were neither books, equipment, nor assistants. Pestalozzi, 
therefore, devoted most of his attention to oral teaching 
in number and language work by means of objects, and 
in geography and nature study by means of conversa- 
tions. The change for the better in the eighty children 
committed to his care was remarkable ; but the experiment 
was brought to an end in six months by the return of 
the French troops, who demanded the convent for mili- 
tary purposes. This was fortunate for Pestalozzi, for 
his health was almost ruined by his incessant labors. 

228 



PSYCHOLOGIZING EDUCATION 

The half-year at Stanz marks the transition from his 
interest in industrial education to the work of reforming 
the methods of teaching the ordinary subjects of the ele- 
mentary school. 

b. Burgdorf (1799-1804). — After the recovery of his 
health, Pestalozzi spent five years at Burgdorf, where 
he did the finest and most original work in reforming 
elementary education. At first he was engaged in the 
village school as assistant to the shoemaker who was the 
head teacher, but he lost his position because of his new 
methods. Fortunately, Pestalozzi 's friends secured for 
him the use of part of the old Burgdorf castle and its 
garden. There he associated with himself five or six 
splendid teachers, who remained his devoted adherents. 
He took a considerable number of boarding pupils, as 
well as day scholars, and maintained an institute for the 
training of teachers, for all of which he received some 
governmental support in addition to voluntary subscrip- 
tions. It was during these years that he worked out the 
significance of the use of objects in the teaching of lan- 
guage, geography, and elementary arithmetic and science. 
In 1801 he published his most important pedagogical 
work, ''How Gertrude Teaches Her Children,'' which is 
not, as might seem, a continuation of the career of Ger- 
tntde, who is not mentioned in it; it consists of a num- 
ber of letters to a friend, describing his educational 
principles. The school at Burgdorf aroused intense in- 
terest among philanthropists and educators ; but in 1805 
the government needed the building for official purposes, 
and Pestalozzi was compelled to move. 

c. Yverdon (1805-1825).— The Institute at Yverdon 
carried on for twenty years the experimental work 
begun at Burgdorf and was even more famous than the 
latter, being visited by teachers and laymen from all 

229 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

over Europe. Observational work upon concrete ma- 
terials was made the basis of the simplification of meth- 
ods in all the elementary subjects. Textbooks were com- 
piled and teachers trained to spread Pestalozzi 's methods 
in the chief European countries, and governmental 
agents and committees made investigations with a view 
to official approval or disapproval. The best work at 
Yverdon was done during the first five years ; after that 
dissensions arose among the assistants, efficiency dimin- 
ished, support was gradually withdrawn, and the Insti- 
tute was finally closed in 1825. Pestalozzi withdrew to 
his old home at Neuhof, where he died two years later. 

Influence of Pestalozzi on Education. — Until compara- 
tively recently it was common to overestimate the im- 
portance of Pestalozzi in the history of educational de- 
velopment by attributing to him the entire reform move- 
ment of the early nineteenth century. His own work was 
characterized by some absurdities, such as the practice of 
memorizing long lists of words in language work, which 
was wholly inconsistent with his fundamental principle 
of basing all teaching upon sense-perception. Moreover, 
many of the best ideas and methods usually ascribed to 
him were the result of the work of his able and devoted 
associates. But when all his deficiencies are admitted, 
the impartial student must conclude that he is the start- 
ing point of modern pedagogy, in that he substituted ex- 
perimentation for tradition in classroom practice. 

1. On the Aim of Education. — Pestalozzi held with 
many of the other innovators that the purpose of edu- 
cation was to bring about a reformed society character- 
ized by virtue in the individual and justice in the state. 
But unlike most of the preceding reformers he main- 
tained that this could only be accomplished when every 
individual, however poor and humble, had been properly 

230 



PSYCHOLOGIZING EDUCATION 

educated. His advocacy of universal education had no 
ulterior motive, as was the case with the religious re- 
formers, but was due to his belief that it was the right 
of every child. The evolution of the masses from their 
wretched condition would be secured only when the edu- 
cation of each individual consisted in "the natural, pro- 
gressive, and harmonious development of all his powers 
and faculties." This could not be accomplished by the 
prevailing system, wherein the chief aim was the me- 
chanical memorizing of forms without the understanding 
of content. On the contrary, the natural development 
of the mind demanded new methods and new materials 
of instruction, and it was in this connection that Pesta- 
lozzi made his greatest contribution to educational re- 
form. 

2. On the Content and Methods of Teaching. — (a) The 
Object Lesson and Oral Instruction. — The reason why 
Pestalozzi was so bitterly opposed to the prevailing edu- 
cation of his day was that he considered sense-perception 
to be the real foundation of our knowledge, and observa- 
tion the basis of all instruction. Hence his emphasis 
upon the object lesson and oral teaching, which were the 
methods by which he tried to carry out the principles of 
Rousseau. Pestalozzi insisted that the prevailing method 
of studying the book and reproducing it filled the child 's 
mind with either hazy ideas or mere words, whereas 
teaching thru observation of objective material within 
the child's experience gave him clear ideas and trained 
him in oral expression: not to gain knowledge of the 
object studied, as with Comenius, but to train the powers 
of the mind, of expression as well as of impression, was 
the aim. Incidentally the object lesson might transform 
the teacher from a passive hearer of recitations to an 
active agent in the mental development of the child, thru 

231 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

questioning and thru properly organizing the materials 
of instruction. With Pestalozzi the object lesson was in- 
formal, and only ordinary objects within the child's ex- 
perience were used for the purpose. Some of his suc- 
cessors, however, so systematized object teaching as to 
make it very formal and, in the hands of an unenthusi- 
astic teacher, wholly lifeless. This systematic object 
teaching was the bridge to the elementary science that 
became an integral part of the school curriculum in the 
later nineteenth century ; this, in turn, in the twentieth 
century yielded to nature study, which subordinates sci- 
entific classification to a study of natural objects having 
an intrinsic interest for the child, apart from their re- 
lation to organized science. 

(b) From the Simple to the Complex. — In using ob- 
jective materials in each subject to develop sense-percep- 
tion and oral expression, Pestalozzi tried to analyze 
knowledge in that subject into its simplest elements and 
to proceed by a graduated series of exercises to what 
was more complex and difficult. 

Arithmetic up to his time had consisted in "cipher- 
ing" according to the most mechanical methods. Pesta- 
lozzi did away with this by postponing all written work 
until the child had made considerable progress in the 
subject, and he substituted mental or oral arithmetic 
for it. Moreover, to make sure that the child was getting 
real ideas of number instead of mere words, all the ele- 
mentary arithmetical combinations were learned as the 
result of combining and separating objects, lines, and 
dots, instead of being merely memorized. 

Geography had a place in the curriculum of few schools 
previous to Pestalozzi ; and when it had, its study con- 
sisted chiefly in the memorizing of bare facts. Tho Pesta- 
lozzi himself was not without fault in this respect, he 

232 



PSYCHOLOGIZING EDUCATION 

aimed at beginning with home geography, so as to show 
the influence of physiographic conditions upon human 
activities and development. The school yard, the vil- 
lage, the valley of the neighboring river furnished the 
necessary knowledge for the understanding of the map 
upon which they were placed after personal observation. 
From these simple beginnings the child was to be led, at 
least in theory, to a knowledge of the entire earth and 
its relation to man. 

Pestalozzi made a great advance in teaching children 
to speak, i. e., in developing oral composition by having 
the children express their observations of objects, de- 
signs, and actions. But in the desire to make use of his 
principle "from the simple to the complex," he often 
made the work very formal and stereotyped. The basis 
of his teaching of reading was the ' ' syllabaries, ' ' such as 
ab, eb, ib, ob, ub, etc.; the children were drilled in all 
the possible combinations of vowels and consonants be- 
fore they proceeded to study words and sentences. It 
was a synthetic method, which violated the principle of 
going from the known to the unknown, i. e., from the 
sentence, which the children already used, to the letter, 
which was an arbitrary sjrmbol. 

In accordance with his principle of reducing every- 
thing to its lowest terms, to the "A B C of observa- 
tion,'' Pestalozzi refused to have children copy designs 
or even draw from the model. Drawing, to which great 
attention was paid, was to consist first in learning the 
simple elements of form, viz., lines, angles, and curves, 
and then by many exercises in combinations to make the 
various geometrical figures and original designs. Writ- 
ing was taught as a form of drawing, the letters being 
analyzed into their various elements, the straight line, 
the curved line, the slanting line, etc., much drill being 

233 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

given upon these elements before the child proceeded to 
write the letters themselves or words and sentences. 

Pestalozzi 's general principle of method was to organ- 
ize an alphabet of every subject and then proceed by 
carefully graded exercises, each of which was to be thor- 
oly mastered before going to the next, to a good un- 
derstanding of the whole subject. Tho this sound gen- 
eral principle was frecfuently overdone in practice, it 
was a great advance on the method it superseded of be- 
ginning with memorizing the rules, forms, and relations 
upon which the subject was based. Tremendous strides 
have been made in the arrangement of textbooks in lan- 
guage work, geography, arithmetic, and the elementary 
subjects generally since Pestalozzi 's day, and these im- 
provements undoubtedly received their inspiration from 
his efforts. 

3. On the Spirit that Should Pervade the School- 
room, — Many of Pestalozzi 's ideas had been anticipated 
by previous educators, and some of his practices were in- 
consistent with his theories; but in one respect he was 
almost unique, viz., in his demonstration of the fact that 
the only right relation between pupil and teacher was one 
based on love and sjnnpathy. To understand this prop- 
erly one must remember the kind of place the elementary 
schoolroom of the day was. When there was a school 
building, it was usually poorly built, unsanitary, and 
badly equipped. Often the school was ''kept'' in the 
home of the teacher, the teacher even being selected, 
sometimes, because he had a better room than hi^ com- 
petitors. Without knowledge or experience, and re- 
ceiving wretched pay, is it any wonder that the aver- 
age teacher considered his work to be that of compelling 
the child to learn by rote his letters, his numbers, and 
his catechism, and that he sat with ferule in hand as an 

234 



PSYCHOLOGIZING EDUCATION 

incentive to study and good behavior? The schoolroom 
was a place of terror; Pestalozzi changed it to a place 
of joy. The importance of respecting the individuality 
of the child naturally followed from the principle that 
education should aim at mental development, not at mem- 
orizing rules and facts; and it brought as a result in 
practice a friendly and trusting attitude toward the 
teacher upon the part of the pupil. Pestalozzi never for- 
got the loving spirit of his childhood home, and one 
of his chief purposes was to have the schoolroom approxi- 
mate as nearly as possible to the conditions of the home. 
Certainly in basing his own discipline upon the principle 
of love he secured marvelous results. Unfortunately not 
all the schoolrooms of our own day are governed by his 
spirit. 

4. On Industrial Education. — It will be remembered 
that, beginning with his work at Stanz in 1798, Pestalozzi 
devoted himself exclusively to reforming the methods of 
teaching the elementary subjects and never returned to 
his earlier work at Neuhof , which had for its aim the or- 
ganization of industrial education for juvenile reform. 
But he had interested another man, Emanuel von Fellen- 
berg (1771-1844), who was destined to carry out Pesta- 
lozzi 's idea in one of the most remarkable educational ex- 
periments of the nineteenth century. Fellenberg came of 
noble and wealthy parentage and was wholly imbued 
with Pestalozzi 's thought that the wretched condition 
of the Swiss peasantry could be improved only by means 
of a new education. When Pestalozzi was compelled to 
give up his school at Burgdorf in 1804, he formed a part- 
nership with Fellenberg and they established a school at 
Miinchenbuchsee. But Fellenberg was essentially a prac- 
tical administrator, and Pestalozzi could not endure his 
businesslike organization. They separated with mutual 

235 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

good will, Pestalozzi establishing his school at Yverdon 
and Fellenberg establishing his ''Institute" at Hofwyl, 
near Berne, where from 1806 to 1844 he developed his 
ideas in industrial education. 

Fellenberg's Schools at Hofwyl. — ^Fellenberg aimed to 
do three things at Hofwyl : (1) To carry out the Pesta- 
lozzian idea of giving to the children of the poor an in- 
dustrial education and at the same time the elements of 
an intellectual education. (2) To realize the philan- 
thropinic idea of educating the children of the rich and 
of the poor together, in order to develop a mutual sym- 
pathy and understanding. (3) To train teachers for the 
common schools, especially in the rural districts. Fellen- 
berg was a most efficient organizer and established the 
various parts of his plan gradually, never undertaking a 
new element until he had demonstrated the success of 
the one previously attempted. 

His fundamental idea was to meet the industrial needs 
of the mass of the people, which were chiefly agricultural ; 
hence the first institution established at Hofwyl was an 
agricultural school, where the children of the peasants 
were taught on his estate of six hundred acres primarily 
the principles of intelligent farming and their practical 
application. As the education was intensely practical, 
workshops to train mechanics in all the needs of farm 
life were established. From the beginning he invited 
the sons of wealthy landowners to the school, with the 
idea of educating them in intelligent supervision of their 
estates, but they remained so short a time that he felt 
he was not accomplishing his aim. Hence he established 
a literary institute where the ordinary classical education 
was given, but as far as possible Pestgdozzian methods 
were used and physical training was encouraged. More- 
over the pupils in the literary institute engaged in farm 

236 



PSYCHOLOGIZING EDUCATION 

labor and technical work, and thereby came into sympa- 
thetic understanding of the children of the poor in the 
agricultural school. A printing press worked by peasant 
boys who were trained in that art supplied the literature 
and music needed. A school for girls and a kind of 
Bealschule to give a practical education in middle-class 
occupations were also established. In all these institu- 
tions teachers were trained, and for a time all the teach- 
ers of Berne received their preparation at Hofwyl. 

The great success of Hofwyl gave an impetus to agri- 
cultural and industrial education in western Europe and 
in the United States. In Switzerland every canton soon 
had its farm school, and most normal schools introduced 
some form of industrial education. In Germany, France, 
and England industrial education was introduced into 
many reform schools, as the best training for juvenile de- 
linquents, and into orphanages as a practical preparation 
for life work. In the United States industrial education 
has gone thru three phases: (1) As the result of many 
reports upon Pellenberg's establishment there were 
founded between 1825 and 1850 ''manual labor insti- 
tutes" all over the United States. They were organized 
to provide a higher education along literary lines, the 
industrial feature being introduced to provide an oppor- 
tunity for self-support for poor students and at the same 
time to secure physical exercise as the necessary basis for 
intellectual work. As the wealth of the country in- 
creased and formal social intercourse developed, the in- 
dustrial element was gradually given up; and by the 
opening of the Civil War most of the schools and col- 
leges, such as Oberlin, that had begun as "manual train- 
ing institutes" had become purely literary. (2) The 
organization of industrial education for juvenile reform 
did not secure much appreciation in the United States 

237 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

until the late seventies. The early reformatories were 
organized on prison principles ; and altlio they provided 
industrial work, it was not for educational purposes but 
was prison-contract labor to make money for the institu- 
tion. In the eighties the movement to substitute Pesta- 
lozzian educative labor for prison-contract labor received 
a great impetus and was accompanied by a movement in 
social reform circles to substitute the cottage plan with 
the spirit of family life for the one big building with the 
spirit of institutional life. Industrial education for the 
reform of juvenile delinquents proved so efficacious that 
it was rapidly adopted by those interested in the educa- 
tion of defectives, such as deaf-mutes, the blind, the 
feeble-minded. (3) It is to be noted that Pestalozzian 
industrial education in the United States has been de- 
scribed hitherto in connection with special institutions 
but not in connection with the public school sj^stem. This 
is due to the fact that in the latter the Proebelian move- 
ment had resulted in the introduction of manual train- 
ing, which emphasized general training as against spe- 
cial efficiency in some trade. Recently, dissatisfaction 
has been found with manual training as a means of gen- 
eral training, and the industrial education movement 
which is receiving most general support at present has 
as its aim to train in specific trade processes — a Pesta- 
lozzian principle. 

Spread of Pestalozzianism. — The publication of *' Leon- 
ard and Gertrude," the reports of the training received 
by the many teachers who studied at Burgdorf and 
Yverdon, the observations of official committees and un- 
official visitors who came to those institutes in large 
numbers, aroused a great interest in Pestalozzi's work 
in many of the European countries and in the United 
States. This interest resulted in the adoption of Pesta- 

238 




239 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

lozzian methods in very many places, and this pro- 
foundly affected educational development. 

In Switzerland, — Curiously enough, Switzerland, the 
land of Pestalozzi's nativity and activity, was slow in 
profiting by his experiments. This was due partly to re- 
ligious differences, partly to the more generally diffused 
knowledge of his weaknesses, and partly to the fact that 
he was regarded by many as a political revolutionist. 
After the Revolution of 1830, however, a more liberal at- 
titude was adopted, and Pestalozzian metihods were 
brought into many of the schools. But the chief influ- 
ence that Pestalozzi had upon Swiss education was thru 
the work of Fellenberg, which has already been de- 
scribed. 

In Germany. — Nowhere has Pestalozzianism had so 
profound an influence as in Germany. It is not merely 
that such great educators as Herbart and Froebel, among 
many others, studied at Yverdon and became Pestalozzi's 
disciples, but that Pestalozzianism became one of the 
chief factors in the social and political regeneration of 
some of the German states, especially Prussia. Even 
before the defeat of Prussia by Napoleon at Jena in 
1806, Pestalozzian missionaries had made great headway 
in advancing their cause. After that event Prussian 
statesmen were convinced that a general reform move- 
ment to improve the conditions of the common people 
was necessary, were Prussia to hope for regeneration. 
Two of Pestalozzi's disciples were made directors of pub- 
lic instruction, and a considerable number of able young 
men were sent to Yverdon to study ; they returned zealous 
advocates of the introduction of Pestalozzian methods 
into the schools. One of the greatest influences of the 
spread of Pestalozzianism in Germany came from the 
philosopher Fichte, a warm personal friend of Pesta- 

240 



PSYCHOLOGIZING EDUCATION 

lozzi, who made many addresses on his work as a means 
of arousing German patriotism and enthusiasm for social 
reform. As a result of all these influences the greatest 
interest prevailed among the teachers of Germany, and 
remarkable improvements were made in school organiza- 
tion, equipment, and methods. 

In France. — In France the military absolutism of 
Napoleon had nothing in common with Pestalozzi's pur- 
pose to elevate the masses thru a reformed education, 
and after the Restoration in 1815 French education was 
placed once more under ecclesiastical influences. After 
the Revolution of 1830 some progress was made, espe- 
cially in the training of teachers, as the result of the 
work of Victor Cousin, who was made Minister of Public 
Instruction. In 1835 he issued a ^'Report on the State 
of Public Instruction in Prussia," which described the 
remarkable progress made in Prussia as the result of the 
adoption of Pestalozzian methods. 

In England. — Pestalozzianism in England has had by 
no means so happy a history as in Germany. Its intro- 
duction into England was due chiefly to the work of the 
Reverend Charles Mayo and his sister Elizabeth. Mayo 
spent three years at Yverdon, and upon his return to 
England in 1822 opened a private school for children of 
wealthy people, in which he used Pestalozzian methods. 
Elizabeth Mayo described the methods in a manual for 
teachers called ''Lessons on Objects," which was a kind 
of encyclopedia of the arts and sciences arranged in 
definite lessons. It was far beyond the comprehension 
of the young children for whom it was intended. But it 
was very popular and had the effect of formalizing Pesta- 
lozzianism in England, most teachers compelling chil- 
dren to memorize facts about objects instead of sensing 
them. The Mayos helped also to organize the Home and 

241 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

Colonial Infant School Society in 1836, which was de- 
voted to extending the system of infant schools that had 
grown np in England after the Napoleonic war. The 
Society established a model infant school and a training 
college for teachers; these had a great influence in 
spreading this Anglicized Pestalozzianism, which had 
little of the true spirit of the great reformer. 

In the United States. — It was the English formalized 
Pestalozzianism that finally affected education in the 
United States. The movement was first brought over 
by one of Pestalozzi's assistants, who had been invited 
by a Philadelphia philanthropist to open a school there. 
He remained but a few years and had comparatively 
little influence. The second way in which the movement 
secured attention in the United States was by the pub- 
lication of official and unofficial reports about it. The 
most influential of these were the translation of 
''Cousin's Report" and particularly the seventh An- 
nual Report of Horace Mann in 1843. This was the 
result of personal observation upon his part and caused a 
great sensation by its implied condemnation of American 
methods. Henry Barnard, thru his publications and 
his activities as Commissioner of Education of Connecti- 
cut and as first United States Commissioner of Educa- 
tion, also had a great influence in stimulating an interest 
in Pestalozzianism in the United States. 

As a result of these influences the Prussian form of 
Pestalozzianism was introduced into a number of elemen- 
tary schools and also into a few of the normal schools 
in New England, but its effect was comparatively cir- 
cumscribed. The deciding influence in the introduction 
of Pestalozzianism in the United States was the Oswego 
movement, inaugurated in 1860 by Mr. Edward A. Shel- 
don, who was then Superintendent of Schools of Oswego, 

242 



PSYCHOLOGIZING EDUCATION 

N. Y. Mr. Sheldon became acquainted with Pestalozzi's 
ideas as the result of observing a collection of Pestaloz- 
zian method materials at Toronto, Canada, and of read- 
ing the publications of the Home and Colonial Infant 
School Society. He determined to introduce Pestalozzian 
methods into his schools and imported from England the 
necessary books and equipment. Then he organized a 
training class for teachers and invited over a training 
teacher from the Mayo school. The Oswego movement 
determined the kind of Pestalozzianism that was to pre- 
vail in American schools, because it was inaugurated at 
a psychological moment. The period succeeding 1860 
was characterized by the establishment of normal schools 
and training schools thruout the north, and the Oswego 
institution, which had been made a state normal school 
in 1866, provided most of the experts to teach methods. 
The Oswego system emphasized the *' object lesson" as a 
chief method of instruction, but was severely criticized 
by some educators on the ground of formalism. Never- 
theless it received the approval of a committee of the 
National Education Association in 1865, and for the 
next generation it was the most important single influ- 
ence in the development of our schools. However, recent 
movements in methodology and educational psychology 
have been away from the Oswego methods. 

B. THE HERBARTIAN MOVEMENT 

Eelation of Herbart to Pestalozzi. — The Career and 
work of Herbart are in most particulars the antitheses 
of those of Pestalozzi. The latter was a visionary, an 
enthusiastic reformer in the field of education as a means 
of social betterment, a man whose educational practices 
were based largely upon a remarkable intuitive knowl- 

243 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

edge of child nature. The former led a wholly academic 
career, was comparatively uninterested in the great social 
changes taking place about him, and organized a sys- 
tem of education in part as the result of philosophic re- 
flection. Both were actuated by the desire to formulate 
principles based upon their own observation and experi- 
ments, regardless of the forces of tradition and author- 
ity. But whereas Pestalozzi confined his work to the 
beginnings of mental development, to the training in 
sense-perception by means of exercises in observation, 
Herbart, accepting Pestalozzi 's contribution, explained 
the entire development of the mind from simple ideas 
to deliberate actions and the proper place of instruction 
in the process of development. The two men supple- 
mented each other. Pestalozzi 's perception led to a 
knowledge of the physical world and resulted in an 
emphasis upon nature study, geography, drawing, and 
oral composition. Herbart 's moral training aimed at a 
knowledge of the moral universe and resulted in an 
emphasis upon history and literature. Herbart freely 
admitted his indebtedness to Pestalozzi. 

Career of Johann Friedrich Herbart (1776-1841). — 
Herbart was fortunate in his parentage and training. 
His father was a learned man and a public official. His 
mother was a woman of rare intelligence, who personally 
supervised the early education of her son. He very 
early showed a preference for Greek, mathematics, and 
metaphysics, and this preference had a marked effect 
upon his pedagogical views. At the Gymnasium of his 
native town, Oldenburg, and especially at the University 
of Jena, Herbart was deeply influenced by the spirit and 
ideals of the new humanism which prevailed there, which 
exalted the Greek culture and view of life above Latin. 
Before taking his degree he became private tutor to 

244 



PSYCHOLOGIZING EDUCATION 

the three sons of the Governor of Interlaken, Switzer- 
land, and his observations of these children were given 
system and order thru the fact that he had to make 
written reports from time to time to their father. The 
influence of the new humanism was shown in his prac- 
tice of beginning the study of Greek with the Odyssey 
as his chief textbook, because he considered it the best 
starting point for moral education. The three years' 
experience which he had with these children provided 
him with the ideas and materials for his pedagogical 
theory, and he always afterwards maintained that the 
careful and prolonged observation of the mental develop- 
ment of a few children was a necessary basis for a 
teacher's training. This experience, moreover, led him 
to emphasize the necessity of studying the needs and 
powers of the individual child and making education 
conform to them. Herbart's difficult and metaphysical 
psychology was developed in later life to justify his 
pedagogical principles. A thoro and detailed knowledge 
of it is not necessary to an understanding of his educa- 
tional system. 

While in Switzerland Herbart visited Pestalozzi's 
school at Burgdorf and wrote a sympathetic account of 
his observations ; and when he again took up his studies 
to secure his degree, he warmly advocated in lectures to 
laymen the ideas of Pestalozzi. From 1802 to 1808 he 
lectured on philosophy and pedagogy at the University 
of Gottingen, and, among other works, he published 
while there his ''Science of Education.'' In 1809 he 
received the high honor of a call to the chair of phi- 
losophy at Konigsberg, which but four years before had 
been occupied by Immanuel Kant. He remained there 
until 1835, when the reactionary attitude of the Prus- 
sian government caused his withdrawal to the more 

245 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

liberal atmosphere of Gottingen. While at Konigsberg, 
however, he established his pedagogical seminar for the 
advanced students in educational problems, and a prac- 
tice school to provide experience for these students and 
also opportunities for experiments in methods of teach- 
ing. In 1835 he published his most important vrork, 
**The Outlines of Educational Doctrine,'' which, unlike 
the "Science of Education," is not a metaphysical 
treatise but a clear and practical exposition of his peda- 
gogy. He died at Gottingen in 1841, having, as stated 
above, lived a purely academic life in an atmosphere of 
calm reflection. 

Herbart's Educational System. 1. The Aim of Educa- 
tion. — The moral end of life, character, is the aim of ed- 
ucation. This was not to be attained, as with Rousseau, 
by cultivating the native capacities of the child ; nor, as 
with Pestalozzi, by developing all the faculties har- 
moniously. Herbart in fact rejected the *' faculty psy- 
chology" of the mind and its pedagogic corollary, the 
dogma of formal discipline. The individual is destined 
to live with his fellow men in society, and the aim of 
education can be attained only by analyzing the social 
interests of men to discover which are best for the edu- 
cated man, and then by means of instruction to enable 
the individual to develop and apply them. It is evident 
what an emphasis such a view puts upon the place both 
of knowledge and of instruction in education. The first 
step towards the realization of the aim of education is 
to develop in the individual ''many-sidedness" of in- 
terest. This is an entirely different conception of in- 
terest from that taught by Professor Dewey, who looks 
upon interest as a cause of knowledge and hence a means 
to education. Herbart also used interest in this sense, 
as we shall see, but primarily as a result of knowledge 

246 



PSYCHOLOGIZING EDUCATION 

and hence an end of education. As Professor Parker 
says, he * * considered interest as a temporary means sub- 
ordinate to the larger question of interests as permanent 
products of education." The more thoroly the teacher 
builds up by means of instruction a number of fine inter- 
ests in the individual which will become springs to ac- 
tion, the more successful will he be in developing moral 
character without sacrificing individuality. 

2. Content of Education. — Man's interests come from 
his experience with things and his intercourse with peo- 
ple. Hence we have two main branches of instruction: 
the scientific, including natural science and mathematics ; 
and the social or historical, including the chief products 
of man's social evolution, viz., language, literature, and 
history. Altho both these branches of instruction are 
important to enable man to find his place in the world, 
the social subjects, or ''historical" subjects, as Herbart 
calls them, offer the best opportunity to color the facts 
with ''good will," They are, therefore, especially neces- 
sary to an understanding of human relations and to the 
attainment of the moral end of education. As stated 
above, knowledge comes from two sources, nature and 
society. This knowledge leads to ideas which in turn 
lead to action. Character, the end of education, thus 
has its beginning in knowledge and its end in action. 
This is Herbart 's "cycle of thought," and the im- 
portance is readily seen of instruction which will de- 
termine the character of the child according to the na- 
ture of the ideas presented and the manner in which 
they are acquired. 

3. Method of Instruction. — A. Interest. — Not all in- 
struction is educative. To be educative it must first be 
characterized by the fact that it arouses interest, which 
is the kind of mental activity that teaching should stimu- 

247 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

late. Interest is the pleasurable tone that accompanies 
the reception of an idea by the mind ; it is measured by 
the energy which a person puts forth to get the idea or 
experience. By means of interest attention is freely 
given to lessons, and need not, therefore, be secured by 
extraneous methods. It is the one feeling that normally 
assists rather than retards the action of reason, hence 
its invaluable character in the teaching process. 






4^ ^<?9 



Nature \ 

Society/ ' y 









Herbart's "Cyctle of Thought." 

B. Apperception. — It cannot be expected that a child 
will be interested in what is so remote from his own ex- 
perience as to be "hard" for him to understand. The 
old education assumed that children had the necessary 
experience with which to relate new ideas. Pestalozzi 
knew better and provided the experiences. Herbart 
showed that the interpretation of new experience de- 
pends in the first place upon a sufficient fund of past 
experience, so that just the right ideas may be brought 
up in the child 's mind, and also upon arousing the right 
emotional attitude, the right frame of mind for the re- 
ception of the new experience. This is the meaning of 

248 



PSYCHOLOGIZING EDUCATION 

apperception, the interpretation of the new in terms 
of the old. 

C. General Method. — Apperception teaches that the 
mind receives and assimilates ideas in a certain way; 
hence any subject, no matter what its material, can be 
presented according to a general method. Herbart out- 
lined four steps in such a general method but it was 
afterward modified and extended by his disciples. The 
Method-Whole or Five Formal Steps of the Recitation 
with their meanings today are as follows: (1) Prepara- 
tion. According to the principle of apperception, the 
child's mind should be prepared for the new material 
by recalling to his mind the ideas he already has which 
will enable him readily to assimilate the new and which 
will put him in the proper frame of mind to do so. (2) 
Presentation, the actual statement and the explanation of 
the new experience to be appropriated. (3) Association, 
the actual combination of the new with the old. (4) 
Generalization, the drawing of the rule, definition, or 
general principle resulting from the comparison of 
particular instances that took place in the third step. 
(5) Application, the testing of the understanding of the 
general principle thru the solution of assigned tasks and 
problems. The first four steps are inductive, the fifth 
deductive. Herbart did not elaborate his general method 
and did not make clear whether these steps were to 
apply to each lesson unit or to the subject as a whole. 
His followers usually have applied it to the individual 
recitation. The five formal steps have generally been 
adopted in the normal schools of the United States as 
forming the best method of the recitation. To the ex- 
tent that they furnish young teachers a standard by 
means of which they can plan out a lesson in advance, 
they serve a useful purpose. The danger is that they 

249 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

may become a pedago^cal strait- jacket and kill the 
spontaneity of a recitation. 

D. Correlation. — Herbart maintained that school sub- 
jects should be so organized into a curriculum that they 
will present a unified world to the consciousness of the 
child and thereby strengthen and not disperse the many- 
sidedness of interest. Instruction in any subject fails 
pedagogically when the ideas generated form an isolated 
group. Herbart himself merely suggested the idea of 
correlation, but his disciples elaborated it. He suggested 
that the Odyssey be the first book read, because it repre- 
sents the activities of the race in its youth and hence 
would appeal to the individual child. He believed that 
the Odyssey should be followed by other Greek classics, 
combined with the study of periods of history selected 
to describe the growth of complexity in human interests. 
As we shall see, Ziller developed this idea into the cul- 
ture-epoch theory. 

Influence of Herbart. — So great has been the influence 
of Herbart and his followers upon the educational prac- 
tice of the two countries which have made the greatest 
progress in education in the later nineteenth century — 
namely, Germany and the United States — that it will 
be necessary to consider in some detail his influence in 
those countries. "Wherever his educational principles 
have been accepted, there has followed a great emphasis 
upon: (1) the importance of school instruction in de- 
veloping moral character, and the necessity of relying 
upon human nurture rather than the natural capacities 
of the child to attain that end; (2) the need of sound 
methods of teaching, based upon a knowledge of the way 
in which the mind acts and expands ; ( 3 ) the exaltation 
of the teacher in the educational process, and the need 
of careful training for the teaching vocation. 

250 



PSYCHOLOGIZING EDUCATION 

Tlie Herbartian Movement in Germany. — For some 
years Herbart's principles received comparatively little 
attention, but in the decade beginning in 1860 there de- 
veloped two remarkable centers of Herbartian influence, 
one at the University of Leipzig and the other at the 
University of Jena. At both universities pedagogical 
seminars and practice schools were established, where 
the principles of Herbart received not only theoretical 
consideration but practical application. In each uni- 
versity a great leader determined the direction in which 
the movement was to go. 

Tuiskon Ziller (1817-1883).— Professor Ziller, of Leip- 
zig, was the first to arouse general interest in Herbart, 
thru the publication jn 1865 of his book entitled ' ' Basis 
of the Doctrine of Instruction as a Moral Force." The 
interest aroused by this publication resulted in the 
founding of the Association for the Scientific Study of 
Education, of which Ziller was the first president, and 
which soon had branches everywhere thruout Germany, 
Ziller was quite independent in his attempt to realize 
Herbartian principles, and was far more radical than 
his master in their development. Herbart had in mind 
the secondary school when he predicated the superior 
value of the historical subjects for moral training. Ziller 
determined to make the Herbartian pedagogy the basis 
of the work of the German elementary school. The first 
evidence of this was his development of Herbart's prin- 
ciple of correlation into one of concent ratian, i. e., the 
unification of all school instruction upon the one central 
core study which will have the greatest practical value" 
in revealing the moral universe to the mind of the 
child. Ziller considered history and literature best fitted 
to provide the material that serves to accomplish this 
end, and he organized for the eight grades of the ele- 

251 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

mentary school an historical course having that object 
in view. 

Tho of undeniable importance, the culture-epoch the- 
ory which Ziller elaborated was an incidental corollary 
to his principle of concentration. It is a pedagogical ap- 
plication of the biological theory of recapitulation, i. e., 
that the individual in his physical development from the 
embryo to the adult recapitulates the same stages of de- 
velopment that took place in the evolution of the species. 
Hence, to conform to the proper order in the psycho- 
logical development of the child, the materials for in- 
struction should be selected and arranged according to 
stages in the cultural development of the race. Tho 
the culture-epoch theory has had such eminent cham- 
pions as Herbert Spencer in England and G. Stan- 
ley Hall in the United States, it is really of only academ- 
ic interest and has seldom been made the basis of a 
course of study. The practical difficulty in the religious 
education of the child of first treating him as a little 
heathen offering up animal sacrifices, and then as a 
Jewish child, before considering him a Christian, is par- 
alleled by similar difficulties in every other subject. This 
radical and exaggerated development of Herbart's prin- 
ciple of correlation is only one instance of the inde- 
pendent manner in which Ziller treated the doctrines of 
his master. As we have seen, he also elaborated Her- 
bart's general method into the five formal steps. In 
fact, he gave the most complete, tho exaggerated, theo- 
retical exposition of Herbart's principles. 

Wilhelm Kein (1847). — The University of Jena 
at first brought forth a very moderate restatement of 
Herbart's principles; but when Professor Wilhelm Rein, 
a pupil of Ziller, became head of the pedagogical seminar 
and practice school there in 1885, he developed the actual 

252 



PSYCHOLOGIZING EDUCATION 

practice according* to the principles of Ziller. However, 
his work was eminently practical; nowhere else was 
there given so fine a combination of theoretical exposi- 
tion and practical demonstration. Rein worked out the 
course of studj' for the eight years of the elementary 
school in great detail, and the student-teachers watched 
it in operation in the practice school and discussed what 
they saw in seminar. Under Rein the University of 
Jena became the great center of Herbartianism, from 
which missionaries carried it to the United States. In 
the meantime the principles of Herbart caused modifica- 
tions in the content and methods of the German schools, 
which have brought about a high degree of excellence 
in the character of instruction. 

The Herbartian Movement in the TTnited States. — The 
Herbartian influence reached the United States in the 
early nineties of the last century, brought hither by 
men who had studied at Jena in the eighties. The most 
influential of these men were Charles De Garmo, who 
published "The Essentials of Method'' in 1889 and later 
became professor of education at Cornell; Charles A. 
McMurry, who published his "General Method" in 1892 
and is now professor of education in the George Pea- 
body College for Teachers at Nashville, Tennessee, and 
his brother, Frank M. McMurry, who with Charles pub- 
lished "The Method of the Recitation" in 1897 and is 
now professor of elementary education in Teachers Col- 
lege, Columbia University. These men and others estab- 
lished the National Herbart Society in 1892, which at 
first confined itself to a consideration of strictly Her- 
bartian topics, such as interest, correlation, appercep- 
tion, the method of the recitation, and moral education. 
In 1902, however, the name of the society was changed 
to the National Society for the Study of Education ; and 

253 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

it no longer stands for any particular creed, but seeks 
in aim, spirit, and method to be scientific. By that time, 
however, Herbartianism had won most of the normal 
schools to its principles and thru the teachers which 
they sent out had greatly influenced the work of the ele- 
mentary schools. 

Influence on the Curriculum. — That influence wels first 
felt in the curriculum. The Herbartian emphasis upon 
history and literature as the best material for instruction 
that should result in the development of moral char- 
acter effected a marked change of attitude towards the 
teaching of those subjects. Before the Civil War, his- 
tory received little attention in the public schools. After 
the War American history only was taught in the upper 
grades and practically with the sole aim of developing 
patriotism. In the last decade of the nineteenth century, 
largely due to the Herbartian influence, a much broader 
view of the teaching of history became prevalent. 
Ancient, European, and especially English history re- 
ceived attention, an understanding of the social life 
rather than the development of patriotism became the 
aim, and the subject was taught in the lower grades by 
means of biographical and historical stories. A similar 
change has taken place in the teaching of literature. Be- 
fore the Civil War the reading books of the children 
had in view religious and moral influences and the 
training in oratory. After the war, tho secular ma- 
terial received a larger place, it consisted usually of 
brief extracts from the great writers, and the aim of 
the reading lesson was usually to train in oral expres- 
sion. Silent reading and the training in habits of wide 
general reading received little attention. Since 1890, 
however, the tendency is to give attention to the literary 
quality of the reading matter by the study of whole 

254 



PSYCHOLOGIZING EDUCATION 

poems and stories, and thereby to give a wide acquain- 
tance with general literature. 

Influence on Method. — Herbart's principle of correla- 
tion has also deeply influenced the organization of the 
curriculum in the United States. In 1895 the report 
of the Committee of Fifteen of the National Education 
Association, on elementary education, started a number 
of movements looking to the discovery of some basis of 
unity in the curriculum resulting from a proper correla- 
tion of studies. The report of the Association 's Commit- 
tee of Ten similarly aimed to secure unification for sec- 
ondary education. Generally in the United States corre- 
lation has taken a moderate form such as interrelating 
the work of geography, history, and civics, or of geog- 
raphy and science, or of arithmetic and constructive 
work. But in 1894 Colonel Parker, the principal of the 
Cook County (Illinois) Normal School, adopted Ziller's 
principle of concentration, making the sciences, especial- 
ly geography, the central subjects of study. The contro- 
versy that took place in the last decade of the nine- 
teenth century between the advocates of interest and of 
effort in education, and the gradual adoption of the 
method whole by the normal schools, are but a few 
other instances of the influence the Herbartian movement 
has had upon American education. In fact, tho no one 
calls himself an Herbartian today, it would be hard to 
overestimate the effect of the movement upon our schools. 

C. THE FBOEBELIAK KOVEXENT 

Friedricli Wilhelm August Froebel (1782-1852).— This 

most eminent disciple of Pestalozzi to whom he owed 
the inspiration for his practical work differed from 
his master in not deriving his educational theories from 

255 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

experience, but from a mystical philosophy which he 
formulated early in life. But just as we have seen that 
what is most valuable in Herbart's educational system 
is in no need of the support of his metaphysical psy- 
chology, so what has proved to be of permanent value 
in Froebel's system does not depend for its soundness 
upon his mystical philosophy. Moreover, his pedagogical 
principles can be understood with but slight reference 
to it. 

The Life of Proebel. — Froebel's early career was not 
a happy one. His mother died in his infancy and 
his father, the overworked pastor of a large parish, 
had little sympathy with the lonely, dreamy boy and 
left him to the control of a harsh stepmother. The 
remembrance of his early childhood caused Froebel ever 
afterward to emphasize love and sympathy as the only 
relation that should exist between teacher and child. At 
ten he was allowed to live with an uncle, who treated 
him most kindly and helped him in his formal school 
work in which he showed neither great interest nor 
great ability. At fifteen he was apprenticed to a fores- 
ter, and from that time until eight years later, when he 
finally decided to make teaching his vocation, he was 
engaged in a variety of occupations that brought him 
into contact with and developed his great love of nature. 
During these eight years he had but little additional 
systematic education, tho he spent some months at Jena 
with his brother, who was a student of medicine. While 
there he came under the influence of the philosophy of 
Fichte and Schelling, which deepened the mysticism 
that was part of his temperament, and he was also much 
impressed by the favorable attitude towards evolution 
adopted in scientific circles there. Finally he decided 
to become an architect and went to Frankfort to study 

256 



PSYCHOLOGIZING EDUCATION 

for that vocation, but was persuaded by the director of 
a Pestalozzian school there to become a teacher in his 
school (1805). Three years later he went with three 
pupils to Yverdon, where he spent two years in studying 
Pestalozzi's method, and became an enthusiastic Pesta- 
lozzian. The next six years he devoted to pursuing 
his university studies, serving in the Prussian army 
against Napoleon, and acting as an assistant curator in 
a mineralogical museum at Berlin. In the meantime he 
had carefully studied the works of Rousseau, Basedow, 
and Pestalozzi. 

In 1816, at the age of thirty-four, he opened a school 
at Griesheim, which he moved the next year to Keil- 
hau. The school at first had as pupils only his five 
nephews. It was conducted upon Pestalozzian lines, but 
even then the germ of the kindergarten idea was present, 
for much of the training was obtained thru play. In 
1825 a hostile government inspector was constrained to 
praise the school for its success in the application of 
the principle of self-activity in children, but despite its 
pedagogic success financial difficulties compelled Froebel 
to leave it and to accept in succession a number of teach- 
ing positions in Switzerland. In the meantime, how- 
ever, he had published his ''Education of Man" (1826), 
his most important pedagogical work, which, tho char- 
acterized by much mysticism and symbolism, contains 
the best exposition of his ideas. A friend had drawn 
to his attention the writings of Comenius, and the lat- 
ter 's description of a school of the mother's knee con- 
firmed Froebel in the belief that had slowly formed in 
his mind that the reform most needed in education was 
that of the earliest years of childhood. Educational 
theorists had for ages preached the importance of car- 
ing for the earliest impressions made on the plastic mind 

257 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

of the child, but no one had attempted to organize early 
education with that object in view. Froebel had already- 
worked out many games, plays, songs, and occupations 
when he opened a ''school for little children" at Blan- 
kenburg in 1837, but it was not until 1840 that he hit 
upon the name Kindergarten for it. The remaining 
years of his life were devoted to expounding his ideas 
in pamphlets, to expanding and improving the materials 
of the kindergarten, and to training girls to become 
kindergarten teachers. Unfortunately the reactionary 
Prussian government, confusing Froebel 's teachings 
with those of a revolutionary nephew of the same name, 
prohibited in 1851 the establishment of kindergartens in 
Prussia, a prohibition which remained in force until 
1860. Froebel 's strength could not survive this blow 
and he died the following year, 1852. 

The Aim of Education: Development. — Froebel agrees 
thoroly with Rousseau in his statement of the aim of 
education, viz., development, development of the inborn 
capacities and powers of the child. But he is wholly 
opposed to Rousseau in his explanation of this aim. As 
stated before, Froebel was not only an intensely re- 
ligious man, but a mystic, and he constantly resorts to 
symbolism and far-fetched analogies wholly alien to 
the pure naturalism of Rousseau. Stripped of its mys- 
ticism, his explanation was to the effect that there is one 
underlying power in the universe, God, which manifests 
itself as force in nature and consciousness in man. Na- 
ture and man, therefore, are one, and a study of the 
changes in the evolution of nature will throw light upon 
similar changes in the development of man. Hence the 
hidden meanings which Froebel found in natural ob- 
jects, which he believed were of great value in reveal- 
ing the world to the child. Humanity as a whole is re- 

258 



PSYCHOLOGIZING EDUCATION 

vealed in each child, but in a particular, unique way; 
hence education must provide for the development of 
the free personality of every child, it must ^ide but 
not restrict, it must not interfere with the divinity in 
each child. 

Self -Activity or Motor Expression: The Method of De- 
velopment. — Froebel was in accord with Rousseau in 
considering the child a behaving, not a learning, animal. 
The child's chief characteristic is self-activity, activity 
determined by his own interests and desires. Hence 
education should build upon this primary instinct; the 
child should learn, but learn by doing. Froebel made 
a great step in advance over Pestalozzi, for the latter 's 
sense-perception instruction was chiefly a matter of 
passive observation. Froebel, on the contrary, was strong 
in his emphasis upon motor-expression, education by 
doing, as having the greatest developing power, and 
therefore made it the essential instead of the incidental 
factor in school work. The Herbartians, too, made a 
place for doing in the fifth step of the recitation, i. e., 
application, but with Froebel motor-expression was not 
one step but all steps in the educative process. The 
education of his day he considered defective, because 
it developed the powers of thinking faster than the 
power of realizing thought in action. Motor-expression 
developed the powers of acquisition and accomplishment 
together, hence there was no break between thought and 
action. 

Social Participation: The Means of Development. — If 
Froebel followed Rousseau in the aim and method of 
education, he did not in the means. Froebel believed as 
thoroly as Aristotle that man is a social animal and can 
realize his humanity only in cooperation with his fellow 
men. Moreover, he maintained that the child has a 

259 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

mechanism of instincts which impels him to cooperative 
action, as can easily be seen by watching his games. 
Hence from infancy social cooperation should be culti- 
vated for the physical, moral, and intellectual benefits 
that accrue from it. The schoolroom is society in minia- 
ture. 

The Kindergarten. — The three great principles of edu- 
cation of Froebel, viz., development as the aim, motor- 
expression as the method, and social cooperation as the 
means, found embodiment in the kindergarten. The kin- 
dergarten was not the first educational institution or- 
ganized for children below the ordinary school age, the 
infant school in England preceding it by a few years. 
But the infant school did not compare with the kinder- 
garten in importance, being a mere expedient to meet 
wretched industrial conditions ^ and having no scientific 
educational foundation. The kindergarten, on the con- 
trary, was organized to conform to the child's instincts, 
impulses, and feelings. As the primary form in which 
his self-activity manifests itself is play, the kindergarten 
is based upon the play instinct — is, in fact, play or- 
ganized to educational ends. The kindergarten aims 
primarily to secure development in the child by help- 
ing him to express himself. Incidentally he acquires 
knowledge, but the gaining of knowledge is not the 
aim. 

The forms of expression which Froebel used most in 
the kindergarten were (1) gesture, (2) song, and (3) 
construction, with language as a concomitant of all 
three. Moreover, whenever possible these forms of ex- 
pression were to be coordinated, e. g., when the teacher 
had told a story it was to be retold by the child not only 
orally in speech, but dramatically in gesture, musically 
^ See p. 294. 

260 




SHOwmG THE Child Some of the Human Activities Necessabyi 

FOR Life 
From Blow's "Mottoes and Commentaries of Froebel's Mother 

Play" 

261 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

in song, constructively in paper, clay, blocks. The ma- 
terials for use in the work of the kindergarten consisted 
of (1) the ''Mother Play and Nursery Songs," (2) the 
gifts, (3) the occupations. The ''Mother Play and 
Nursery Songs ' ' was a small book of fifty songs, each ac- 
companied by a picture and explanatory notes. The 
songs describe simple nursery games like hide-and-seek, 
or the imitations of some trade like the carpenter's. It 
can readily be seen what an opportunity they offer for in- 
structional purposes along kindergarten lines. In fact, 
the ' ' Mother Play ' ' has been one of the chief instruments 
in the training of kindergartners. The ' ' gifts ' ' and ' ' oc- 
cupations" consist of materials for stimulating the 
child's motor-expression, the gifts consisting of materi- 
als that do not change their form in use, like the sphere, 
cube, cylinder, sticks, and tablets, and the occupations 
consisting of materials that are reshaped and trans- 
formed in use, like sand, clay, paper, and cardboard. The 
more recent organization of the kindergarten has trans- 
ferred the emphasis from the gifts to the occupations, as 
tending to develop greater freedom of expression. The 
work of the kindergarten was and is carried on as if it 
were a miniature society in which the little citizens are 
learning their duties and privileges and the need of mu- 
tual helpfulness. 

Influence of Froebel. — Tho the influences exerted by 
Pestalozzi, Herbart, and Froebel are so inextricably 
interwoven in the educational practice of today that it 
is extremely difficult to trace any one of them, it can 
hardly be doubted that the most important streams of 
thought in present elementary education flow from 
Froebel. The symbolic values attached to the gifts and 
occupations have been replaced in the kindergarten 
practice of today by an emphasis upon reality, due to a 

262 



PSYCHOLOGIZING EDUCATION 

better selection of materials and activities. And tho the 
kindergarten is the chief bequest of Froebel, his sys- 
tem is just as applicable to higher stages of education, 
and his influence upon a number of other practices has 
been so profound as to require some attention. 

Plcuy. — Emphasis now is upon the human animal as 
primarily an acting, not a learning, animal. This is due 
to the new psychology which predicates feeling and ac- 
tion as primary elements of mind, and intellect as a 
product of their interaction. Hence the soundness of 
Froebel's insistence upon the educational value of play, 
not for physical welfare, the ground upon which it was 
usually defended, but for intellectual and moral train- 
ing, for which Froebel considered it of supreme value. 
Froebel realized his ideas of the value of play only in 
the kindergarten, but the school has learned that in play 
the individual reveals himself and finds the social world 
revealed to him far better than in any other activity. 
Hence play in its variety of forms has its place today 
in all branches of education, elementary, secondary, and 
higher. 

Manual Training. — That Froebel emphasized construc- 
tive work as a means of expression and development, not 
only for the early but for the later years of the child ^s 
life, is made evident by his scheme for a manual train- 
ing school which he proposed to establish at Helba, Ger- 
many. And tho other men were advocating the same 
kind of education at the same time wholly independently 
of Froebel, three aspects of Froebel's scheme should be 
remembered: (1) His plan included the elements of 
practically all manual training schemes that have since 
been developed. (2) The success of the kindergarten 
tended to emphasize the value of manual training for 
older children. (3) Froebel was the first to advocate 

263 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

manual work on the educational grounds which are used 
to justify it today. Rousseau believed in handwork and 
wanted everybody to learn a trade, but for social and 
economic reasons. Pestalozzi's manual work was pri- 
marily to train in sense-perception in order to enable the 
child better to acquire knowledge. Froebel emphasized 
it as a form of expression of ideas, as a way of develop- 
ing creative power. Hence the manual training which 
he advocated must be distinguished from industrial edu- 
cation, which has competed with it for a place in the 
school. The one makes use of constructive activities for 
general educative purposes and is provided for the child, 
whatever his future vocation, just the same as geography 
or arithmetic. The other looks to industrial elBficiency 
in some particular branch of trade, and has a specific 
educational purpose. 

Spread of Froebelianism in Europe. — Prohibited in 
Prussia, the kindergarten was brought to foreign coun- 
tries by the devoted disciples of Froebel, especially by 
the Baroness von Biilow. Her social position and her 
enthusiasm secured considerable success in the establish- 
ment of kindergartens thruout western Europe. In 
England and in France the kindergarten was grafted 
on the infant school and gave the latter Froebel's 
methods rather than his fundamental idea. In Ger- 
many, largely thru the Baroness von Billow's efforts, 
there was established in 1867 a Froebel Union, which had 
a great influence in spreading Froebel 's influence by 
means of journals and training schools. Nevertheless, 
the kindergarten in Germany has never been recognized 
as a part of the regular school system and is usually 
upon a voluntary basis. 

The manual training movement began in Finland, one 
of whose prominent educators determined to carry the 

264 



PSYCHOLOGIZING EDUCATION 

active occupations of the kindergarten up into the ele- 
mentary grades and impart manual dexterity to the 
pupils. The Finnish system influenced in turn the Swed- 
ish sloyd system, which had developed independently of 
it. Swedish sloyd had started as an economic measure 
to revive domestic industries, and the aim was to teach 
the elementary trades. But after the Finnish influence 
was felt, the Swedish sloyd adopted the general educa- 
tive aim, i. e., to develop manual dexterity and the abil- 
ity to use tools. 

Froebelianism in the United States. — A. The Kinder- 
garten. — To consider in detail the influence of Froe- 
belianism on education in the United States would mean 
to study practically every important educational ten- 
dency of the present time. "We have space only for the 
few that have wielded the greatest influence, and the 
first of these is, of course, the kindergarten. Some of 
the cultured Germans who had emigrated to the United 
States after the revolution of 1848 opened private schools 
for the education of their children, Eind these usually had 
kindergartens attached to them. Miss Elizabeth Pea- 
body of Boston was influenced by these and opened the 
first kindergarten in the United States for English- 
speaking children in 1860, and was also chiefly instru- 
mental in founding the first training school for kinder- 
gartners in 1868. The movement spread with great 
rapidity, and in the seventies and eighties many organi- 
zations were established thruout the country, having for 
their aim the maintenance of kindergartens. These were 
all private, however, and the kindergarten movement 
could not have its proper educational influence until 
it was introduced into the public school system. This 
took place in 1873, when Dr. William T. Harris (to 
whom American education owes the introduction of so 

265 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

many good influences), as superintendent of education of 
St. Louis, made the kindergarten a part of the public 
school system of that city. Since then it has become 
part of the public school system of most cities of the 
country. In his efforts to secure the general adoption 
of the kindergarten, Dr. Harris was ably assisted by Miss 
Susan Blow, one of the most influential advocates of the 
kindergarten movement. Miss Blow not only wrote and 
spoke extensively in its favor, but established a train- 
ing school at St. Louis, where Dr. Harris had incor- 
porated the kindergarten in the school system, and from 
this training school missionaries went out in every di- 
rection. Miss Blow became the leader of the conserva- 
tive school, which emphasized the symbolism of the kin- 
dergarten materials, a position which is gradually giv- 
ing way to a more liberal interpretation of Proebel's 
principles. Today the number of journals, magazines, 
and associations devoted to the cause of the kinder- 
garten is excelled in influence only by the fine training 
schools maintained thruout the country. 

B. The Manual Training Movement. — The manual 
training movement in the United States was one of 
the results of the Centennial Exposition of 1876 at Phila- 
delphia. The Eussian exhibit at the Exposition 
prompted educators in our country to advocate drawing, 
design work, and constructive work as part of our educa- 
tional curriculum. At first manual training was intro- 
duced only in the high schools, and the movement spread 
with such rapidity after 1880, when the first manual 
training school was established in St. Louis, that today 
almost all cities have either manual training high schools 
or have adopted manual training as part of the general 
high school curriculum. In elementary education man- 
ual training was first tried out in privately maintained 

266 



PSYCHOLOGIZING EDUCATION 

schools, but its success was so evident that it was rapidly- 
adopted into the public schools. Since 1882, when 
Montclair, N. J., first introduced it into both the primary 
and grammar grades of the elementary school, it has 
been adopted in some form by practically all city school 
systems, 

C. Elementary School Practice. — In reconstructing 
theory and practice in elementary education in the 
United States, no other influence has been so effective 
during the past generation as the Froebelian emphasis 
upon education thru motor-expression and social par- 
ticipation. And this has been due to the efforts of 
Colonel Francis W. Parker (1837-1902), more than to 
any other single individual. As principal of the Cook 
County Normal School he introduced the Pestalozzian 
methods of teaching geography and the Herbartian 
scheme o£ concentrating the curriculum about a central 
study, in this case geography. But tho advocating, in 
season and out, all that was best in the Pestalozzian and 
Herbartian movements, he was the chief exponent of the 
belief that the adoption of Froebel's principles would 
revolutionize elementary education. His insistence upon 
training in all forms of expression as the best way to 
develop the thinking process and also to realize the high- 
est possibilities of character has been adopted in theory 
by nearly all leaders in modern educational thought in 
the United States, tho but sadly realized in actual prac- 
tice. Another educator who has emphasized motor- 
expression and the social aspect of education is Professor 
John Dewey, but as he worked out his ideas independ- 
ently of Froebelian influence and is most influential at 
the present moment in the reconstruction of educational 
thought, we shall consider his work briefly in a later 
chapter. 

267 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

The Methodizers and the Problem of Government and 
Liberty. — It is evident even to the casual reader how far 
Pestalozzi, Herbart, and Proebel departed from Rous- 
seau, who inspired their work, in their solution of the 
problem of reconciling individual liberty with social 
stability. Every one of them emphasized individuality 
and the importance of making instruction conform to 
the individual needs and aptitudes of the child. Only 
in that way can the inner freedom upon which they all 
laid stress find expression in character, which they all 
made the end of education. This end can be attained, 
however, only in life with one 's fellows ; hence the need 
of studying society to discover the really important as- 
pects of life, then of organizing the subject matter of 
instruction so as to make it an epitome of life, and 
finally of administering the school so as to make it a 
society in microcosm. Tho the methodizers were pri- 
marily interested in the psychological aspect of educa- 
tion, in the development of the individual, the social 
aspect is everywhere evident in the emphasis upon educa- 
tion both as the means and the process of moral and 
social progress. And the importance of the social insti- 
tutions of the home, the school, and the state in this 
work is everywhere made evident. It is not too much to 
say that these reformers paved the way for the defini- 
tion of education given by Rosenkranz, ''Education is 
the preparation for life in institutions.'' 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Articles in Cyclopedia of Education on Pestalozzi, Froebel, 
Herbart, Fellenberg, Ziller, Parker, etc. 

CuBBERLEY, E. P. Syllabus in the History of Education. 
Chap. XXXVL 

De Garmo, C. Herbart and the Herbartians. 

268 



PSYCHOLOGIZING EDUCATION 

Froebel, F. W. Pedagogies of the Kindergarten. 

Graves, F. P. A History of Education. Vol. Ill, Chaps. 

v-vn. 

HoLMAN, H. Pestalozzi, His Life and Work. 

Monroe, P. Textbook in the Histoiy of Education. Chap. 
XL 

Parker, S. C. A History of Modem Elementary Educa- 
tion. Chaps. XIII-XYIIL 

Pestalozzi, H. Leonard and Gertrude. 

Quick, R. H. Educational Reformers. Chaps. XVI-XVII. 

QUESTIONS, COMPARISONS, AND TOPICS FOR 
FURTHER STUDY 

1. Show the points of resemblance and difference between 
the principles of Comenius and Pestalozzi, Locke and Herbart, 
Basedow and Froebel. 

2. To what extent is "character formation" the end of 
school instruction? 

3. Which method of moral development among the follow- 
ing do you favor in the school: a. Direct teaching of morals 
in lessons? b. The teaching of morals as incidental to the 
teaching of other subjects? e. Moral development as a result 
of classroom organization and discipline and of school admin- 
istration? d. Development upon the examples of teachers? 

4. To what extent can interest be made the basis of school 
work? Is it necessary to have "hard" subjects, problems, and 
situations to train will power? 

5. How far can the development of individuality be made 
a part of the aim of school instimction ? 

6. In view of the organization of the high school into 
departments and of departmental teaching in the upper grades 
of the elementary school, to what extent can the principle 
of correlation of subjects be earned out? 

7. To what extent can the subject matter of instruction be 
drawn directly from the life activities of the child? 

8. a. Has the play element been sufficiently introduced into 

269 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

American school activities'? b. Illustrate how any elementary 
school subject might profitably be taught as a game. c. Give 
instances where primary school methods have been unwisely 
used in more advanced instruction. 

9. Illustrate, if possible, how constructive work might be 
used in teaching the more formal subjects of the elementary 
schools, like arithmetic and grammar. 

10. Show how objective teaching may properly be em- 
ploj'^ed in arithmetic. 

11. Respecting the dictum, "Things before words," give 
an application advocated by: a. Comenius; b. Rousseau j 
c. Pestalozzi. 



CHAPTER XV 

THE QUESTION OF EDUCATIONAL VALUES— SCIENCE 
IN THE CUERICULUM— HERBERT SPENCER 

Outline. — The nineteenth century witnessed a remarkable 
progress in pure science and a still more astonishing develop- 
ment of applied science. These resulted in a revolution in 
conditions of living and also of thinking. 

A demand, therefore, arose for the inclusion of the sciences 
in the curricula of the schools, primarily because of the value 
of their content but also because of their disciplinary value. 
This demand was best expressed in Spencer's "Education.'^ 

As a result of the agitation arising from this demand, the 
sciences have won a place in the curricula of elementary, sec- 
ondary, and higher institutions of education in Europe and 
the United States. 

In Chapter X we saw that the seventeenth century wit- 
nessed a remarkable development of scientific knowledge, 
especially after the close of the period of religious con- 
troversy and war. This scientific development inspired 
successive educational innovators, who have been 
grouped under the term sense-realists, to demand a re- 
form in content by introducing the study of natural 
phenomena, and in method by advocating inductive rea- 
soning. The sense-realistic movement met with de- 
termined opposition from the classicists, who controlled 
institutional education, and it made but slight head- 
way during the eighteenth century. But the knowledge 
of science became more widespread, largely thru the in- 

271 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

fluence of the French encyclopedia, and it greatly im- 
pressed literary and philosophical circles. Rousseau 
and the naturalists deepened this impression by their 
exaltation of the study of nature; and the movement 
received another great impulse from Pestalozzi, whose 
insistence upon sense-perception based upon objective 
material logically led to nature study in elementary edu- 
cation and to science in higher education. But altho 
sense-realism was initiated by Francis Bacon in the 
seventeenth century and received philosophical exposi- 
tion from John Locke in the early eighteenth, nowhere 
did it affect the education of the schools to a less extent 
than in England. That it continued to have little in- 
fluence for the greater part of the nineteenth century 
is all the more remarkable when one considers the as- 
tonishing developments in pure and applied science that 
took place in England during that century. 

The Development of Science in the Nineteenth Century, 
— In every field of human thought men 's ways of think- 
ing have been changed by the general acceptance of the 
biological theory of evolution. Beginning with LamarcK 
early in the century the theory was elaborated and clari- 
fied by successive thinkers, such as Darwin, Wallace, 
and Tyndall. In turn the special branches of biology, 
such as anatomy, physiology, and embryology, made the 
greatest strides. The investigations of Lyell and Cuvier 
in geology proved the tremendous age of the earth and 
the former existence of species now extinct. The adop- 
tion early in the century of the atomic theory in chem- 
istry and of the undulatory theory of light in physics 
opened an era of rapid development in the physical 
sciences. 

But remarkable as was the progress in pure science, 
still more astonishing were the developments in applied 

'272 



EDUCATIONAL VALUES 

science, resulting in inventions and discoveries that revo- 
lutionized conditions of living. The invention of such 
devices as the cotton-gin and the sewing-machine greatly- 
increased production and cheapened consumption. The 
steamboat and the locomotive engine immensely im- 
proved the means of transportation. The telegraph and 
submarine cable brought all the world into immediate 
communication. The discovery of chloroform and anti- 
sepsis made for an improved practice of medicine and 
surgery. All these theories, discoveries, and inventions 
had been given to the world before Herbert Spencer 
published his "Education" in 1861. Practically all of 
them had been made outside the schools and universities, 
and those institutions continued their academic work as 
if ignorant of any change in men 's social and intellectual 
life. But this attitude of mind was not general outside 
of educational institutions. 

The New Conception of Culture. — Therefore a new con- 
ception of culture had been formulated by many dis- 
tinguished thinkers, which emphasized elements that 
prepared directly for the life that the individual was 
to live and denied that a subject of study was cultural in 
proportion to its remoteness from direct relationship to 
life. That men's ways of thinking should have been 
wholly changed by the discoveries of science, that their 
mode of living should have been revolutionized by its 
applications to industry, that their political and social 
relations should have been transformed by the growth of 
new classes, interests, and activities, and yet that no 
subject dealing with these changes should appear in the 
curriculum of the school and university, seemed more 
absurd with the passage of time. It can readily be seen, 
therefore, that the progressives would determine the im- 
portance of a subject by the extent to which its content 

273 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

gave the knowledge necessary to make life useful and 
happy, in contrast to the conservatives, who maintained 
that the value of a subject depended upon the mental 
discipline imparted while acquiring it. While most of 
the advocates of science emphasized the importance of 
mental training, they maintained that it came as a by- 
product of the process of gaining knowledge and was 
equally well obtained by the study of the sciences as 
by the study of the classics and mathematics. The most 
typical representative of the claims of science for a 
place in the curriculum was Herbert Spencer. 

Herbert Spencer (1820-1903).— Tho born in a fam- 
ily of culture, Spencer did not receive a university edu- 
cation. He read deeply in mathematics and natural 
science, studied architecture and engineering, and finally 
engaged in editorial work. In this he acquired much of 
the knowledge that enabled him to compile the monu- 
mental series of works with which his name is asso- 
ciated. Spencer does not seem to have read widely upon 
educational subjects and appears to have been familiar 
with the ideas of only Pestalozzi among modern educa- 
tional reformers. All the more remarkable, therefore, 
is his book ''Education," in which he attacked the pre- 
vailing classical education in England. The book con- 
sists of four essays, each of which appeared at first as an 
article in a magazine. It is written in a most attractive 
style, and its somewhat convincing logic won to the cause 
of science many adherents. 

Science as the Content of Education. — The old ques- 
tion, "What Knowledge is Most Worth" is the title of 
the first essay. Spencer answers his own question by say- 
ing it is the knowledge that prepares one for complete liv- 
ing. In what does complete living consist ? In certain life 
activities, which Spencer formulates in the order of their 

274 



EDUCATIONAL VALUES 

importance and for which he indicates the knowledge 
necessary. They are: (1) Activities related to preserv- 
ing life and health, for which a knowledge of the sciences 
of physiology and hygiene is essential. (2) Vocational 
activities, related to earning a living. Since the main- 
tenance of most persons is secured thru some form of 
industry, a knowledge of the sciences of mathematics, 
chemistry, physics, and biology is requisite. (3) Do- 
mestic activities, related to family life and the rearing of 
children, which cannot be accomplished properly without 
a knowledge of the sciences of physiology, hygiene, 
psychology, and ethics. (4) Social and political activi- 
ties related to citizenship, which demand for their proper 
functioning a knowledge of the sciences of history, eco- 
nomics, and politics. (5) Leisure activities related to 
the gratification of the tastes and feelings — namely, 
music, esthetics, and literature. Even these depend for 
their real enjoyment upon a knowledge of such sciences 
as psychology, acoustics, and mechanics. Moreover, 
since they occupy the leisure of life, they ought to oc- 
cupy the leisure of education. 

It is evident how great a reversal of educational values 
is propounded by Spencer in comparison with those of 
the prevailing education. The "culture'^ subjects which 
formed the mainstay of that education are placed by 
him last in importance, whereas the natural sciences, 
which were ignored by that education, are placed first. 
Because of this position Spencer has been accused of 
crass utilitarianism, in that he would sacrifice what is 
higher in life, its culture, for that which is lower, its 
practical advantage. As a matter of fact, Spencer was 
aiming at an educational reorganization in which no 
longer a few would be trained for a life of elegant 
leisure and the many for a life of soulless routine, but in 

275 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

whieli, rather, everybody should receive an education 
that included some of the elements of knowledge, in the 
order of their relative importance. Nevertheless, in at- 
tempting to formulate such a scheme, he emphasizes the 
education of the head at the expense of the heart ; and in 
order to escape a one-sided language training, he advo- 
cates a one-sided scientific training. 

Science for Mental Discipline. — Having proved, as he 
thinks, the superior value of the sciences as the content 
of education in order to prepare for a useful and happy 
life, Spencer in the same essay combats the chief claim 
of the classicists, viz., that the classics are superior to 
any other subject for attaining the true end of educa- 
tion, the development of general mental power. Spencer 
does not rise above the traditional doctrine of the formal 
disciplinarians in his attack, for he assumes the ex^ 
istence of general mental power and its transfer from 
one field of mental work to another. He simply asserts 
that the sciences are superior to languages for this pur- 
pose because, while the latter train the memory only, 
the former do that and in addition exercise the under- 
standing, cultivate the judgment, and develop sound 
habits of morality. This must be true, he maintains, be- 
cause if one kind of knowledge were necessary to pre- 
pare for life activities and another to develop mental 
power, the *' beautiful economy" of nature would be 
destroyed. This simply begs the whole question. Biology 
shows that nature is very prodigal, not economical. 
Moreover, no student of education will admit that the 
disciplinary value of language and literature is confined 
to the memory. 

Spencer's Principles of Education. — Spencer's chief 
contribution to educational progress was made in the 
first essay which raises the whole question of educational 

276 



EDUCATIONAL VALUES 

values. While the other chapters furnish suggestive 
reading, they offer nothing new. In the second chapter, 
on Intellectual Education, Spencer does not go beyond 
a restatement of the principles formulated by Pesta- 
lozzi, viz., that education should proceed from the simple 
to the complex, from the concrete to the abstract, from 
the empirical to the rational, and that it should be based 
upon interest. The culture-epoch theory should furnish 
the principles for the organization of the curriculum. 
In the third chapter, on Moral Education, Spencer re- 
peats Rousseau's doctrine of natural punishments as the 
basis for all moral training. Only in this way will the 
life of the individual be characterized by self-control 
rather than by blind subservience to authority. In the 
last chapter, on Physical Education, Spencer presents a 
fine exposition of the physiological basis of mental life, 
refutes the arguments in favor of the ' ^ hardening proc- 
ess, ' ' ^ and emphasizes the need of attention to proper 
diet, clothing, exercise, and games. 

Influence of Spencer. — Spencer's ''Education" had a 
profound influence in England and a great influence in 
the United States. In England it startled people into 
inquiring anew as to the purpose of education and the 
best way of attaining it. And altho in his last three 
chapters he adds nothing new to the ideas of the great 
leaders who were trying to psychologize education, those 
ideas were new to the majority of Englishmen. It is also 
true that Spencer was not so radical in some of his 
views as other advocates of science, like Huxley, but he 
was more influential. It is probably not too much to 
say that the introduction of a ''modern side'* into Eng- 
lish secondary education was primarily due to his cru- 
sade. Among the representatives of the Spencerian 

1 See p. 193. ~~~~ 

277 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

movement in the United States the most prominent is 
Charles W. Eliot, who before becoming president of 
Harvard University was professor of chemistry there. 
His demand for the equivalence in value of the sciences 
in the course of study and for the right of election in 
studies was generally accepted everywhere. 

Science in the Curriculuni. — 1. Germany. — The intro- 
duction of science into the curriculum upon a par with 
the classics has been everywhere an accomplishment of 
the latter part of the nineteenth century. But science in 
a more modest guise appeared earlier in the educational 
systems of every country. In Germany secondary edu- 
cation was first influenced in this direction thru the 
work of the pietists at Halle,^ which resulted in the 
establishment of the Bealschule in Berlin by Hecker 
in 1747. Bealschulen were multiplied in Germany dur- 
ing the eighteenth century ; but science did not affect the 
citadel of German education, the Gymnasium, until the 
first governmental Lehrplan, or syllabus for secondary 
education, was issued in Prussia in 1812-1816, when, as 
the result of the new life and influences initiated by the 
Weimar circle and strengthened by the French Revolu- 
tion, two hours a week for the entire Gymnasium course 
were allotted to physics and natural history. This allot- 
ment was able to survive the period of reaction in Ger- 
many which extended over the years 1820-1860. As the 
result of reforms introduced in 1859 and 1882, two new 
types of school were established and recognized as a part 
of the system of secondary education on a par with the 
Gymnasium, viz., the Bealgymnasium and the Oherreal- 
schule. In these one and a half to twice as much science 
is offered as in the G3nnnasium itself. Technical schools 
of a secondary grade, having science as a foundation for 

^ See p. 178. 

278 



EDUCATIONAL VALUES 

vocational work, had appeared as early as 1745, and be- 
tween 1815 and 1870 became established in all the chief 
cities of Germany. Since the Franco-Prussian War they 
have greatly increased in number and importance. 

In elementary education, despite the earlier efforts of 
Comenius,^ science received its first extensive recog- 
nition in Germany as the result of the naturalistic 
movement which found lodgment in Basedow's Philan- 
thropinum in 1774, But it owes its extension rather to 
the spread of Pestalozzianism in Prussian schools after 
1810. Drawing and geography are now taught thruout 
the course, elementary science and geometry in the mid- 
dle and upper classes. 

In the universities formal instruction in science was 
given before Liebig established his laboratory at the 
University of Giessen in 1825, but modern scientific 
instruction in the universities based upon the laboratory 
method dates from that event. 

2. France. — Until the expulsion of the Jesuits human- 
ism dominated French education, and science received 
little attention except in two or three of the higher in- 
stitutions of learning. After that event, the Oratorians 
(Oratory of Jesus) controlled secondary education in 
France and they were more friendly to science. The 
Revolution brought changes in education, as in other 
human interests. In 1794 the Ecole Normale (Normal 
School) was founded at Paris, where such distinguished 
scientists as Laplace and Lagrange gave instruction; 
and a considerable amount of science was introduced 
into the lycee^ the secondary school, which was estab- 
lished in 1802. Science struggled for greater recogni- 
tion until 1852, when it was theoretically put upon a 
par with classics. Nevertheless, tho the number of 

^See p. 171. 

279 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

courses in the various sciences and the amount of time 
given to them have been greatly increased in the sec^ 
ondary school, the scientific course does not even now 
equal the classical in dignity. Since the Franco-Prussian 
War (1870), the amount of science introduced into the 
elementary school in France has constantly increased. 
Informal instruction in science in the lower classes is 
now associated with drawing, constructive work, and 
geography ; and in the higher classes regular and formal 
courses are given in the natural sciences. Moreover, the 
normal schools which train teachers for the elementary 
schools give very thoro instruction in the various natural 
sciences and emphasize their application to practical 
life. 

3. England. — The work of Sir Isaac Newton at Cam- 
bridge resulted in several chairs of mathematics and the 
physical sciences being established there in the eighteenth 
century. Nevertheless science received little attention at 
Oxford and Cambridge until 1869, when the laboratory 
method was introduced ; and altho in recent years there 
has been considerable development, those conservative 
institutions are still very backward in this respect. As 
a matter of fact, whatever advance has been made in 
scientific instruction in higher institutions of learning 
in England has come from two sources: (1) from the 
municipal universities that have been established in Lon- 
don, Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham; (2) from 
a series of higher technical institutions, which were 
founded by the government between 1857 and 1907, 
when they were all merged into a corporation known as 
the Imperial College of Science and Technology. 

As regards English secondary education we saw in 
Chapter X that *' realistic" studies had been introduced 
to some extent in the academies established by the dis- 

280 



EDUCATIONAL VALUES 

senters in the seventeenth century. But these academies 
greatly declined in the eighteenth century, and as science 
had never been introduced in any form into the aristo- 
cratic private institutions known in England as "public 
schools," the nineteenth century opened with very little 
instruction in science in English secondary education. 
In the early part of the century a strong movement in 
opposition to the prevailing classical education was inau- 
gurated by George Combe (1788-1858), and his friends, 
which resulted in the establishment after 1848 of "sec- 
ular" schools in many of the cities of Great Britain, in 
which the curriculum was strongly scientific in char- 
acter. Tho they did not live long, their existence raised 
the whole question of the content of the curriculum in 
the secondary schools and undoubtedly helped the move- 
ment, of which Herbert Spencer was the mouthpiece, 
for the equivalence of science in that curriculum. The 
equivalence was secured by the establishment of the 
"modern side" in the public schools after 1868, as the 
result of a governmental investigation which uncovered 
the almost complete absence of science in those institu- 
tions. This was done, however, very reluctantly by the 
schools, the teachers in which openly disparaged the 
new subjects. Even today, because of the large part 
played in English life by social prestige, the "modern 
side" has never attained the standing of the classical 
course. Scientific instruction has received a great im- 
petus in secondary education as a result of the estab- 
lishment by the government in recent years of many 
independent scientific secondary schools and the sub- 
sidizing in the existing schools of classes in the vari- 
ous sciences and subjects involving their application. 
In elementary education classes in geography and ele- 
mentary science were subsidized, since only the three R's 

281 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

were required subjects; but after 1900, as a result of 
a revision of the curriculum, they have been made pre- 
scribed subjects. 

4. The United States. — a. Higher Education. In no 
other country did science receive so early recognition in 
education as in the United States. Practically all the 
colleges that were founded in the seventeenth and eight- 
eenth centuries, beginning with Harvard, introduced 
some subject of science into the curriculum almost from 
the very beginning, usually astronomy, "natural 
philosophy,'' or *' natural history." Instruction, it is 
true, was usually by lecture or out of books ; for the most 
part it was not until the nineteenth century that labora- 
tory demonstrations accompanied the instructor's lec- 
tures in chemistry and physics, and not until after the 
middle of the century that students were provided with 
laboratory facilities. The publication of Darwin's 
*' Origin of Species" in 1859 and the spread of the be- 
lief in the doctrine of evolution by such leaders as Louis 
Agassiz and Asa Gray at Harvard helped to create a 
demand for the equivalence of science in the curriculum 
and for the introduction of the elective system. This 
was effected by President Eliot at Harvard in 1869 and 
gradually adopted by most other colleges and universi- 
ties. In the meantime the establishment of the Rens- 
selaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy in 1825 had inaugu- 
rated a movement for the founding of higher special in- 
stitutions of applied science and technology, sometimes 
in association with existing institutions and sometimes 
independent of them. Finally the Morrill Act, passed 
by Congress in 1862, which appropriated thirteen million 
acres of public land for the maintenance in every state 
of a college devoted primarily, tho not exclusively, to 
the promotion of branches of learning related to agri- 

282 



EDUCATIONAL VALUES 

culture and the mechanic arts results in the estab- 
lishment of similar schools of applied science in almost 
every state, usually, tho not always, in connection with 
the state universities. As a result of all these move- 
ments it is not too much to say that today science, cer- 
tainly its spirit and its methods, dominates the higher 
education of the United States. 

b. Secondary Education. The emphasis upon science 
in American education is primarily due to the academy.^ 
As early as 1700 the Latin grammar schools had begun 
to make provision for practical or applied science, in 
particular for surveying and navigation. The first acad- 
emy, that founded by Franklin in Philadelphia in 1751, 
had three ' ' schools ' ' or courses, of which two were avow- 
edly of direct usefulness for economic life in the new 
land. From that time the academy was par excellence a 
secondary school that conformed closely to the needs of 
the people. Not only did the science of mathematics re- 
ceive practical applications, but from the beginning other 
forms of pure science were taught. These were generally 
given under the title of "natural philosophy," tho 
astronomy and geography nearly always had a place in 
the curriculum. When the modern public high school 
began its career, it maintained the friendly attitude 
towards science which characterized the private academy. 
The earliest public high school, which was established iu 
Boston in 1821, included geography in the first year, 
mathematics, navigation, and surveying in the second, 
and natural philosophy and astronomy in the third. 
As in the colleges, instruction was generally given by 
means of textbooks, sometimes with demonstrations by 
the teacher, but seldom, if ever, with laboratory practice 

on the part of the student. But after the Civil War 
_________ 

283 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

this defect began to be remedied ; and the scientific cur- 
riculum in the high school was expanded to include 
physics, chemistry, botany, and zoology. In fact the 
demand that the student have a general knowledge of 
all these sciences resulted in a good deal of superficiality. 
Since the beginning of the twentieth century, however, 
the tendency in secondary education has been to limit 
each student to a few well-organized courses taught by 
the laboratory method, and especially to require one 
*' general science" course of all pupils. 

c. Elementary Education. Down to 1840, when Hor- 
ace Mann's campaign began to have some influence, the 
subjects taught generally in the elementary schools of 
the United States were the three R's — i. e., reading, 
writing, and arithmetic — with spelling and grammar. 
Geography was the only subject of a scientific nature 
that received any attention, and then only in the best 
schools. Horace Mann's campaign was successful in 
securing the general adoption of physiology in the cur- 
riculum of the elementary school in the East by the 
commencement of the Civil War. As we saw in Chapter 
XIV, the Oswego movement after the war resulted in 
the introduction of object teaching, which, tho of a 
formal and stereotyped nature, was a transition to the 
teaching of elementary science. Since the commence- 
ment of the twentieth century the tendency has been to 
give a knowledge of elementary science in the form of 
observational ' ' nature study, ' ' which makes a far greater 
appeal to children of elementary school age than sys- 
tematic science. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Articles in Cyclopedia of Education on Spencer, Huxley, 
Science, etc. 

284 



EDUCATIONAL VALUES 

CuBBERLEY, E. P. Syllabus in the History of Education. 
Chap. XXXVIL 

GRAVES; F. P. A History of Education. Vol. III. Chap. 
X. 

Monroe^ P. Textbook in the History of Education. Chap. 
XIL 

Quick, R. H. Educational Reformers. Chap. XIX. 

Spencer^ Herbert. Education. 

YouMANS, E. L. Culture Demanded by Modem Life. 

QUESTIONS, COMPARISONS, AND TOPICS FOR 
FURTHER STUDY 

1. Is there any connection between the nature study move- 
ment and the present tendency to give instruction in agri- 
culture in the rural elementary and high schools? 

2. In what other ways besides the use of window-boxes for 
growing plants and vegetables, aquaria for fish, and excur- 
sions into the country can elementary school children be inter- 
ested in nature and science? 

3. How can other elementary school subjects, like litera- 
ture, drawing, and constructive work, be correlated with nature 
study in the elementary school? 

4.^ Is there any danger that scientific methods may be 
pushed too far in the teaching of such subjects as language, 
literature, and history in the secondary school? 

5. Is there any danger that too exclusive use of the lab- 
oratory method in such sciences as physics and biology will 
result in an ignorance of their relation to other subjects and 
to the world in general? 

6. Was there any justification for the religious objection 
to the teaching of science in the school which prevailed in 
the middle of the nineteenth century? 

7. Is there any evidence that the adherents of natural science 
are taking the same unfriendly attitude towards new subjects 
in the curriculum that characterized the attitude of the ad- 
herents of the classics towards science in the mid-nineteenth 
century I 

285 



CHAPTER XVI 

SOCIALIZING EDUCATION THRU PHILANTHROPY AND 
THRU STATE CONTROL 

Outline. — The education of the nineteenth century was char- 
acterized by a socializing process which effected the almost 
complete secularization of education, the elimination of ecclesi- 
astical domination, and the substitution of state support and 
control. The movement went thru three stages: 

1. The period of philanthropy. In this period the reforms 
in the organization and practices of education were under- 
taken by voluntary effort, usually of philanthropic organiza- 
tions. The Sunday school movement, the monitorial systems, 
and the infant school movement illustrate this stage. 

2. The period of transition to state control. The motive 
impelling to state control differed in the different states. In 
Prussia the motive was to develop a strong state ; in the United 
States, to train for citizenship; in England, state control was 
chiefly the result of the conflict of class interests. 

3. The period of socialized education. In this last period 
the state has become conscious of the great purpose of educa- 
tion, namely, to be the instrument of society to attain its 
conscious goals and ideals. The social motive emphasized at 
first the political aspect of social life, and later the economic; 
and this difference in emphasis has resulted in the introduction 
of different subject matter and different practices. 

Meaning of the Sociological Movement. — The educa- 
tion of the nineteenth century, as we have seen, was 
characterized by an insistence upon a psychological 
study of the child in order to make instruction conform 

286 



SOCIALIZING EDUCATION 

to his developing powers, and it resulted in greatly im- 
proved methods of teaching. It was also characterized 
by a socializing process which was in the nature of a 
reaction against the extreme individualism of Rousseau, 
a process which emphasized the need of preparing the 
individual to live in a constantly changing social en- 
vironment, and which resulted in profound changes in 
the subject matter of instruction and in its organization 
and administration. This socializing process effected the 
almost complete secularization of education, by the elim- 
ination of ecclesiastical domination and the substitution 
of state support and control. In the middle of the eight- 
eenth century education was still dominated by religious 
ideals and generally controlled by ecclesiastical organi- 
zations. But the church was unable to cope with the 
problems resulting from the social changes that there- 
after took place. It had neither the vision, the energy, 
nor the financial power. Nevertheless, it bitterly op- 
posed each step in the process of socialization ; hence the 
victory of complete social control of education was won 
at different times in the different nations of western 
Europe. It was first secured in Germany in the early 
part of the century, in the United States only towards 
its close, in France but yesterday, and in conservative 
England it has not yet been won. The movement has 
passed thru three stages: (1) the period of philan- 
thropy, in which private organizations — usually of a 
charitable nature — undertook to do what the church was 
unable to do; (2) a transition period, during which, as a 
result of the political revolution in France, the growth 
of a new nation in the United States, and the industrial 
revolution in England, the movement toward social con- 
trol was greatly accelerated; (3) the political period, in 
which the secular forces have secured control and estab- 

287 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

lished state systems of education. It will be necessary 
briefly to consider each of these stages in the process of 
socialization before considering the results of the move- 
ment as a whole. 

1. THE PERIOD OF PHILANTHROPY IN EDUCATION 

Social evolution has been characterized by an increas- 
ing extension of state activity. In the eighteenth cen- 
tury the only duties the state undertook were to protect 
life and property thru its legislative, executive, and 
judicial powers. Such social functions as street light- 
ing, water supply, fire protection, and poor relief were 
under private initiative and control. Voluntary en- 
deavor and experiment had first to show the state that 
an activity could arid should be undertaken by the state, 
before that view was generally accepted. This has been 
especially true of education. Almost every reform in 
organization and practice has been first demonstrated 
as practicable and useful by private enterprise, before 
it has been adopted by the state. Hence, when it became 
evident that the church could not meet the educational 
needs of a changing civilization, society had first to rely 
upon the efforts of voluntary organizations. The de- 
gree to which this was true differed in the various coun- 
tries, being least true in Germany where the control of 
education was earliest taken over by the state, and most 
true in England where the conception of education as 
necessarily supervised by the church has been longest 
maintained. Even in Germany we have already studied 
the philanthropic reforms of Francke at Halle, the 
Philanthropinum of Basedow at Dessau and the indus- 
trial movement of Fellenberg at Hofwyl, in Switzerland, 
all of which resulted in valuable reforms in the prevail- 

288 



SOCIALIZING EDUCATION 

ing system of education. But the philanthropic move- 
ments in education have been most influential in England 
and the United States, and we shall now turn to a brief 
consideration of the most important of them. 

The Charity School in England. — The close of the 
Restoration period left England unprovided with ele- 
mentary schools and the Established Church did very 
little to fill the void. Some charity schools were estab- 
lished in the seventeenth century ; but the abject poverty 
of a large proportion of the people, the utter ignorance 
of the majority, the comparative indifference to the 
needs of poor children suggested to a group of philan- 
thropists at the beginning of the eighteenth century 
the organization of the Society for Promoting Christian 
Knowledge. This society did splendid work in opening 
charity schools thruout the country, in which the chil- 
dren received not only free instruction and books, 
but often free clothing and food. The object of the 
schools of the Society was ''to make them [the children] 
loyal church members and to fit them for work in that 
station of life in which it hath pleased their Heavenly 
Father to place them." These schools were, in other 
words, something in the nature of vocational schools to 
prepare girls for domestic service and boys for appren- 
ticeship in the more laborious trades. Incidentally in- 
struction in reading, writing, and arithmetic of an ele- 
mentary nature, and much instruction in religion and 
morals was also provided. By the middle of the eight- 
eenth century the Society had established more than 
two thousand schools, attended by more than fifty thou- 
sand children. Yet despite its modest aim and the social 
value of its work, it met with much opposition among 
many in the upper classes who feared the evil effect of 
education upon the "lower classes." An offshoot of 

289 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

this society was the Society for the Propagation of the 
Gospel in Foreign Parts, which purposed to do for the 
colonies what the parent society was doing for the 
mother country. It was quite successful in establish- 
ing charity schools, especially in the middle colonies in 
America, and by the opposition it aroused among the 
dissenting sects it stimulated an interest in an extension 
of education among the poor. 

The Sunday School Movement. — In 1780 a manufac- 
turer of Gloucester, Robert Raikes, in the hope of 
doing something to lessen the ignorance and 
squalor among the poor of the town, opened for both 
adults and children a school which was to meet on Sun- 
days. Tho Raikes did not originate the Sunday 
school movement he became its first great propagandist. 
He paid his teachers a shilling a Sunday for their work. 
His school was so successful that others were soon estab- 
lished in many cities and towns of the United Kingdom, 
and a Sunday School Society was founded in 1785 to 
extend the work. In 1786 the movement was brought to 
the United States and spread with great rapidity, many 
associations being formed to propagate the idea. It must 
be remembered that at first the Sunday school was as 
much a secular as a religious institution, and also that 
the teachers were paid for their work ; but gradually the 
secular instruction was abandoned and the teaching be- 
came voluntary. It also became less efficient; but the 
Sunday school movement was another step in the exten- 
sion of education among the masses of the people. 

The Monitorial Systems of Bell and Lancaster. — ^In 
1798 Joseph Lancaster (1778-1838) founded the first 
** monitorial school" in one of the districts of London 
inhabited by the poorest and most ignorant of the popu- 
lation. In order that he might extend the benefit of 

290 



his teaching to as many children as possible, he hit upon 
the device of using older pupils as assistant teachers for 
the younger children. He first taught the lesson to these 
''monitors," and each of them in turn taught it to the 
group of children that had been placed under his con- 
trol. With this system a single teacher was able to 
direct the instruction of a very lar^e number of pupils, 
Lancaster himself caring for a thousand in his school. 
Lancaster insisted that his aim was to establish a non- 
sectarian system of education, and in 1808 an associa- 
tion made up chiefly of dissenters was formed to organ- 
ize his schools upon an efficient basis, as he had fallen 
badly into debt. In 1814 this association assumed the 
name of the British and Foreign School Society and 
did a remarkable service for the cause of education in 
founding Lancasterian schools. So successful were they 
that the Established Church, fearing their non-sectarian 
influence, established in 1811 the National Society for 
Promoting the Education of the Poor in the Principles 
of the Established Church, and this society absorbed the 
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, which has 
already been described. The schools of the National 
Society were placed under the supervision of Dr. An- 
drew Bell (1753-1832), who had used the monitorial sys- 
tem while at the head of an orphan asylum in India. 
They differed little from those of the British and For- 
eign Society, except in giving dogmatic instruction in 
the Anglican catechism and prayer book. 

Nature of the Work of the Monitorial Societies. — The 
monitorial societies rendered a remarkable service to 
English education in a number of ways. They not only 
provided the sole opportunity for thousands of poor 
children to receive any kind of education, but their 
schools were efficiently organized and disciplined, the 

291 




Fig. 1 shows a class seated on a form at a writing desk. Fig. 2 
shows five monitors giving instruction to five classes. The 
boys are assembled at the draft stations, their toes to lines 
cut in the floor. With pointers the monitors are giving in- 
struction from lessons suspended from the lesson rail 




Interior of the Central School of the British and Foreign School 
Society, Borough Road, Southwark, showing 365 pupils 
seated 



The Monitorial System of Instruction 



SOCIALIZING EDUCATION 

work was thoroly systematized, the children were well 
graded and received a fair knowledge of the elemen- 
tary subjects. However the monitorial system has 
been severely criticized: the discipline was most rigid 
and permitted of no spontaneity; the instruction was 
wholly formal and mechanical and based upon memor- 
iter work; the military organization, with its drill and 
precision, its system of badges and banners, offices, re- 
wards and punishments, was wholly alien to the newer 
and truer conception of education which, we have seen, 
had developed on the Continent. But the monitorial 
schools were a great improvement upon the ordinary 
schools of the time, in which two-thirds of the child's 
time was wasted and the formation of slipshod habits 
was common. Moreover, the rivalry between the two so- 
cieties kept the subject of general education before the 
English people and gradually prepared them for the 
adoption of the principle of education as a state 
function. 

The Monitorial System in the United States. — The mon- 
itorial system of the Lancasterian type was introduced 
into the United States in 1806 and spread with great 
rapidity thruout the country. In fact it came as a 
godsend to the numerous charitable societies that were 
formed in the first two decades of the nineteenth cen- 
tury, having for their aim the extension of elementary 
education among the poor. Its comparative inexpen- 
siveness appealed not only to such societies, but also to 
legislatures, when public opinion had become aroused in 
favor of a state system of schools. And its efficient sys- 
tem of grading in large and hygienic rooms, its improved 
apparatus and good discipline served to discredit the 
one-room, one-teacher, ungraded school that prevailed 
even in many of the cities. In fact, the monitorial sys- 

293 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

tern was generally adopted not only for elementary edu- 
cation but for secondary schools also, in the three 
decades previous to the Civil War. But as material 
wealth increased thruout the country and the people 
became better informed as to the need of education and 
more willing to contribute to its support, this formal 
and mechanical method was abandoned in favor of the 
psychological conceptions of Pestalozzianism. 

The Infant School Movement. — This form of philan- 
thropy in education originated in eastern France where 
Jean Frederic Oberlin, the pastor of a district that had 
been ravaged by war, attempted to give some training 
to the very young children under his charge. It was 
brought to Paris at the beginning of the nineteenth cen- 
tury, but was not generally adopted in France until its 
efficacy had been shown in England. Then in 1833 it 
was made part of the national system of schools, and in 
1881 the name "maternal school" given to it. It is the 
substitute for the kindergarten in the French system; 
but, tho physical exercises, singing, drawing, and other 
kindergarten activities are present, development is not 
the aim, and imparting information is much more em- 
phasized. 

It was in Great Britain that the infant school had its 
greatest development. It was first established at New 
Lanark, Scotland, in 1816 by Robert Owen, who had not 
heard of the French movement. Owen was a philan- 
thropic manufacturer, who adopted the infant school 
idea as a means of combating the evil results of the 
factory system on children. The foundling and orphan 
asylums bound out children of five, six, or seven 
years of age for nine-year terms to manufacturers, who 
were permitted to work them twelve hours a day and 
at the end of their apprenticeship turn them, ignorant 

294 



and de^aded, into the mass of the population. Owen 
organized in this school a kind of education for children 
from three to seven in which singing, dancing, and out- 
door games were associated with teaching about nature 
and common things, all within the comprehension of the 
children. It was an excellent scheme and very success- 
ful. Unfortunately when it was adopted by Samuel 
Wilderspin, who became the great exponent of the in- 
fant school idea, he made it in every essential respect a 
small copy of the school for older children, without the 
element of spontaneity which had been so attractive at 
New Lanark. Wilderspin was very active, however, in 
spreading the infant school idea. His own school in 
London was much visited, he wrote voluminously about 
the movement, went upon lecture tours thruout the 
country, and was instrumental in establishing an Infant 
School Society in 1824, which founded a great many 
such schools. 

As stated in Chapter XIV, the Reverend Charles 
Mayo in 1834 founded the Home and Colonial 
School Society for training infant school teachers. The 
Society undertook to adopt Pestalozzian ideas in its work 
and this resulted in an improvement in methods, but 
it' was a stereotyped form of Pestalozzianism, which had 
little of the spirit of the founder in it. Another advance 
was made in the seventies, when some of the practices of 
the kindergarten were adopted. It must not be supposed 
that the multiplication of infant schools, monitorial 
schools, and other charitable schools adequately supplied 
the educational needs of Great Britain. When the Re- 
form Bill of 1832 was passed, education was being pro- 
vided apparently for not more than one-third of the 
children of England. Real progress only began with the 
passage of the Forster Elementary Education Act of 

295 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

1870, which established a state-supported and state-con- 
trolled school system. 

Infant schools sprang up in the United States in the 
early twenties and spread rapidly to most of the cities 
of the country. At first they were separate institutions 
unconnected with the elementary schools, the latter 
sometimes, as in Boston, demanding for admission an 
ability to read and write. They were, moreover, nearly 
always conducted upon the monitorial principle, which 
permitted the enrollment of large numbers in one school. 
Generally, as in New York, the infant school developed 
into the primary department of the elementary school, 
and women were nearly always employed as teachers. 
The infant schools, like the monitorial schools, were 
generally fostered by associations of charitable people, 
such as the Public School Society of New York, which 
was founded early in the century. The work of these 
organizations is considered at greater length in Chap- 
ter XVIII. 

2. THE PERIOD OF TRANSITION TO STATE CONTROL 

Education to Develop a Strong State : Germany. — Even 
before the period of political and industrial revolutions 
the importance of education as an instrument of the 
state to strengthen its political organization and bring 
about social reform was recognized by the enlightened 
despots, as typified in Frederick the Great. Frederick 
determined to destroy the ecclesiastical domination of 
the schools in Prussia without eliminating religious in- 
struction, and Germany has since worked out the prob- 
lem of state control upon that basis. Despite Frederick's 
interest, however, the prolonged opposition of the clergy 
prevented any actual progress toward realization of the 

296 



SOCIALIZING EDUCATION 

political purpose of education until the overthrow of 
Prussia by Napoleon in 1806. In the struggle for na- 
tional freedom that followed, it was recognized by the 
German leaders that a new system of education domi- 
nated by the political motive of patriotism was neces- 
sary. A reorganization was undertaken whereby the 
last vestiges of ecclesiastical control were removed, Pesta- 
lozzian methods of teaching introduced, and the aim to 
use the school to make Prussia a strong state was adopted. 
The adoption of the political motive in Germany in the 
eighteenth century and its realization in the nineteenth 
rendered philanthropic movements merely incidental 
and supplementary in German education, instead of pri- 
mary as in English. 

Education for Citizenship: The Tlnited States; France. 
— The political revolutions in the American colonies 
and in France emphasized the political motive from an- 
other point of view. As a result of the Revolution the 
United States, in theory at least, became a democracy; 
and the general diffusion of education as an absolute 
essential to the realization of the democratic ideal was 
recognized by early statesmen like Jefferson. But as we 
shall see later, in Chapter XVIII, it was not until the 
development of the new democracy in the West, and 
the disappearance of restrictions upon the suffrage in 
the East, that education for citizenship became the ac- 
cepted aim. The intelligent participation of all in the 
affairs of government depends upon the education of 
all into an understanding of those affairs. For its own 
safety and preservation the state must itself undertake 
the education of its citizens. We find, therefore, the 
political motive of education for citizenship supersed- 
ing the religious at a comparatively early date and the 
principle of the state-supported and state-controlled 

297 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

schools generally accepted by the American people before 
the Civil War. 

The French Revolution went far beyond the Ameri- 
can in its educational aims and proposals. Universal, 
compulsory, free education supported and controlled by 
the state was demanded by the leaders. Many laws were 
passed looking towards the realization of this ideal, but 
because of the chaotic conditions of the age little was 
accomplished. Napoleon established the University of 
France, practically as a department of the national gov- 
ernment, to control secondary and higher education, but 
he ignored elementary education. And tho public 
elementary education was introduced in 1833, the church 
practically controlled it until the establishment of the 
Third Republic. Gambetta and the republican leaders 
determined that the Republic should rest upon the edu- 
cational foundations demanded by the Revolution, and 
the political history of France during the past genera- 
tion has been in part the history of the struggle between 
church and state for the control of education. By a 
series of laws beginning with that of 1881, which made 
primary education free, to the law of 1904, which closed 
the religious schools, education in France has been secu- 
larized and brought under the control of the state to a 
degree that has taken place in no other western nation. 

Education as the Result of the Conflict of Class Inter- 
ests: England. — The development of a state system of 
education in England has not been determined by a 
definite motive, as in the case of France, Germany, and 
the United States, but has taken place in a haphazard 
manner resulting from a conflict of class interests. The 
progress of public education has been retarded by the 
determination of the Established Church to maintain its 
control over education and by the desire generally held 

298 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

by the upper classes to keep the mass of the people in 
ignorance. England did not have any political revolu- 
tion in the nineteenth century, but it did have a great 
industrial revolution. The invention of machinery for 
spinning and weaving, run by the stationary steam 
engine, resulted in the displacement of the domestic or 
home system of industry by the factory system. This 
in turn resulted in the crowding of people into new 
cities that grew up, particularly in the neighborhood of 
the coal and iron mines of the northeast. The fac- 
tories were filled with women and children as well as 
men, working long hours and under outrageous condi- 
tions of housing and sanitation. The landed gentry, who 
viewed with dislike the increasing power of the manufac- 
turers, passed a series of factory acts, beginning with 
that of 1802 and culminating with the great system of 
legislation of 1835, looking to the protection of the 
women and children working in the factories and mines. 
The manufacturing interests retorted with the passage 
of the Reform Bill of 1832, providing for a more equit- 
able distribution of Parliamentary representation, and 
with the Repeal of the Corn Laws, removing the protec- 
tive tariff upon agricultural products and cheapening 
the price of bread. As a result of the struggle between 
these interests the laboring class were enabled to secure 
some of their rights, among them that of education. 
The Factory Act of 1802 provided that apprentices 
should not work more than twelve hours a day and 
should receive instruction in reading, writing, arith- 
metic, and religion. And altho the law was not 
successfully enforced, it aroused a great amount of agi- 
tation and discussion as to whether the government 
had any right at all to interfere with education. This 
culminated in the grant in 1833 of £20,000 for the erec- 

300 



SOCIALIZING EDUCATION 

tion of schoolhouses, the money to be spent by the two 
monitorial societies, the British and Foreign represent- 
ing the dissenters and the National representing the Es- 
tablished Church. It is true that the practice of giving 
public funds to private corporations resulted in the crea- 
tion of vested interests which afterwards opposed the 
establishment of a public school system, but of far 
greater importance was the acceptance of the principle 
of state aid for elementary education. The forces in 
favor of a state-controlled and state-supported school 
system looked upon the Act of 1833 as only the first step 
in the accomplishment of their program and, after an- 
other generation of agitation, secured the passage of the 
Forster Elementary Education Act of 1870, establishing 
the ''board" schools. The Act provided that whenever 
the national education department considered the pro- 
vision for elementary education in any locality to be 
insufficient, it might order the election of a local school 
board which must maintain adequate accommodations. 
The schools thereby established were to share the grants 
of the national government with the "voluntary" 
schools, i. e., the schools which were partly supported by 
voluntary contributions, and which thereafter consisted 
chiefly of the schools of the National Society, those of the 
British and Foreign Society coalescing with the board 
schools. Under the act the board schools gave religious 
instruction, but not of any particular denomination ; and 
the ''conscience clause" of the act provided that any 
pupil might withdraw during the period of religious 
instruction should his parents so desire. The act was 
a compromise, and the numerous statutes having to do 
with education that have been enacted since then have 
not resulted in a secular system of education like that 
of France and the United States; but as we shall see 

301 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

in Chapter XYIII they have resulted in an increasing 
control of all schools by the state authorities. 

3. THE PERIOD OF SOCIALIZED EDUCATION 

The Social Motive, — It must not be supposed that, be- 
cause the state during the nineteenth century gradually 
superseded the church in the control of education, edu- 
cation quickly became socialized. Traditional aims, tra- 
ditional subjects, traditional methods of teaching, and 
traditional forms of organization and administration 
maintained their hold. But the state, which is the insti- 
tution that represents all classes and interests of society 
and that represents society as an organized whole, has 
gradually become conscious of the great purpose of 
education, namely, to be the instrument of society to 
attain its conscious goals and ideals. Ideals change 
with time and social institutions alter to conform to 
them. Hence education is an ever varying process to 
prepare the individual to adjust himself to an ever 
changing environment and for life under institutions 
that are constantly being modified. This social motive 
emphasized at first the political aspect of social life, and 
later the economic; and this difference in emphasis has 
resulted in the introduction of different subject matter 
and different practices. 

a. The Political Aspect of the Social Motive. — Educa- 
tion for citizenship, that is, the preparation of the indi- 
vidual to participate in the government of his country 
by voting intelligently and, if need be, discharging the 
duties of office satisfactorily, has had certain profound 
effects upon education. These may be summarized as 
follows : 

1. The establishment of universal, free, compulsory 

302 



SOCIALIZING EDUCATION 

elementary education. Even in England the gradual ex- 
tension of the suffrage to all males has made the upper 
classes conscious of the need ''to educate our masters." 
In the United States the belief not only in an intelligent 
electorate, but in the right of that electorate to educate 
its own leaders, has resulted in public support of sec- 
ondary and higher education. 

2. Centralization of administration and supervision 
at the expense of the rights of localities and private in- 
terests. This is essential if compulsory education laws 
are to be enforced and the larger aims of the state are 
not to be thwarted by the ignorance and laxity of 
parents or local communities. This increase in state 
control has been accompanied by an even greater in- 
crease in public support of education. 

3. A readjustment of emphasis upon subjects of in- 
struction. If universal participation in political life is 
to secure social welfare, a study of social needs, social 
activities, and social structure is essential to preparation 
for good citizenship. This belief has resulted in an em- 
phasis upon history and civics in elementary education, 
as against the formal studies like spelling, grammar, and 
the three R's; and a tendency in higher education to 
minimize the literary humanities in favor of the social 
humanities, such as politics and economics. 

4. The social emphasis upon methods of teaching 
school subjects. History is no longer the story of the 
doings of kings and warriors, but of the development of 
the life and thought of peoples and of their political 
and social institutions. The study of geography consists 
no longer in memorizing lists of places and products, but 
in learning the influence of physiographic conditions on 
human activities and social development. Civics is no 
longer the study of the structure of government, national 

303 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

or local, but of the way government functions in actual 
operation. 

5. The great change in the status of the teacher. So- 
ciety has come to look upon the teacher as its special 
agent in administering its most important function, edu- 
cation. This has resulted in the elevation of the voca- 
tion to the rank of a profession and in the demand for 
a careful preparation in the normal schools established 
by society to train teachers for the profession. The 
teachers in turn have responded admirably to the de- 
mands that society has imposed upon them. In no pro- 
fession do so many organizations exist to promote the 
objects of the profession, and in no profession is there 
such literary and experimental activity. 

b. The Economic Aspect of the Social Motive. — The 
industrial revolution bringing in its train the factory 
system of industry practically destroyed apprenticeship 
as a preparation for industrial life. The master no long- 
er directly teaches an apprentice in whose welfare he 
has a personal interest. The apprentice in fact 
usually has but one process to learn, and that often 
requires little skill or intelligence. Because of the mo- 
bility of labor resulting from the crowding of people in 
the cities, there is no incentive to masters to teach ap- 
prentices, since the masters may not reap the benefit of 
the instruction themselves. And because of the capital 
required in the factory system, there is little hope that 
the apprentice may some day become a master, as he 
might hope to under the old domestic system of indus- 
try. Hence if industrial skill is to be secured and devel- 
oped, an outside agency having some direct interest in 
its maintenance must undertake the task. Social devel- 
opments in other directions indicate the school as that 
agency. 

304 



SOCIALIZING EDUCATION 

The chief problem that confronted the culture nations 
of the West during the first six decades of the nineteenth 
century was political, viz., the reconstruction or consoli- 
dation of the state. Germany, Italy, and the United 
States were engaged in working out the problem of 
national unity. France was trying to get rid of the 
shreds and tatters of monarchy. Even in England the 
energies of statesmen were largely devoted to such polit- 
ical problems as the extension of the suffrage and the 
disestablishment of the church. But once national con- 
solidation was secured, it became evident to the states- 
men of all nations that the power, influence, and even 
the existence of a nation depend upon its economic 
status. The growth in all these countries of great cor- 
porations and trusts which control industrial produc- 
tion on a large scale meant keen competition to supply 
international as well as domestic markets. Success 
would come to the nation whose industry was most effi- 
ciently organized; and that could be accomplished no 
longer by men with practical experience only, but men 
deliberately educated with that object in view. 

Industrial Education. — This movement in favor of spe- 
cialized education in industry came later in England 
and the United States than in Germany and France. 
England had nearly a century's start in industrial de- 
velopment, and a considerable control of foreign markets, 
and felt comparatively secure in her position. The 
United States had apparently unlimited natural re- 
sources and could afford to carry on wasteful forms of 
production. But Germany was a comparative newcomer 
in the industrial field and had neither England's plant 
nor America's resources, and she determined to rely 
upon specialization in all forms of industrial education, 
technical, commercial, and agricultural, for her national 

305 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

advancement. No community has ever deliberately 
rationalized its social life to such an extent as has Ger- 
many. In industry, education, civil administration, and 
war it has made efficiency the aim and has organized 
the training of its citizens with that object in view. In 
manufactures, not only technical schools for the higher 
education of managers and supervisors, but trade and 
continuation schools for training workers have every- 
where been established. In commercial education, Ger- 
many is far superior to any other country and provides 
elementary and higher education for every form of busi- 
ness. Agriculture has not been neglected and elemen- 
tary education in that vocation is provided. As a result 
of this highly specialized education Germany so rapidly 
advanced in every form of industry, in manufactures, 
commerce, mining, and administration, that she bade fair 
to secure the primacy in the markets of Asia, South 
America, and the undeveloped parts of the earth gen- 
erally. England, France, and the United States have 
waked up to the need of similar specialized instruction, 
and in some forms of industrial education are now but 
slightly behind Germany. The industrial education 
movement has resulted in a change in the conception of 
training for citizenship. Preparation for intelligent par- 
ticipation in political rights and duties as the best way 
of making a valuable citizen is giving way to direct 
training in some form of industry to make the individual 
a productive economic unit. In other words the politi- 
cal aspect of the social motive in education is gradually 
yielding in importance to the economic; but both com- 
bine to make the preparation of the individual for suc- 
cessful participation in the political, industrial, and 
social activities of his fellow men the true aim of educa- 
tion. 

306 



SOCIALIZING EDUCATION 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Articles in Cyclopedia of Education on Philanthropy, Char- 
ity Schools, Sunday Schools, Infant Schools, Monitorial Edu- 
cation, Industrial Education, Lancaster, Bell, Raikes, etc. 

CuBBERLEY, E. P. Syllabus in the Histoiy of Education. 
Chaps. XXXVIII-XLI. 

Graves, F. P. A History of Education. Vol. Ill, Chap. III. 

Monroe, P. Textbook in the History of Education. Chap. 
XIII. 

Person, H. S. Industrial Education. 

QUESTIONS, COMPARISONS, AND TOPICS FOR 
FURTHER STUDY 

1. Is the Gary plan of employing older pupils to supervise 
the work of younger pupils related to the monitorial system 
of teaching? 

2. Would the Sunday school of today be more efficient 
were it provided with paid teachers and a well-graded 
curriculum? 

3. Should private philanthropy be relied upon to provide 
free meals, free eyeglasses, free clothing, etc., for indigent 
school children? 

4. How great an obstacle is child labor to the realization 
of the educational ideal? 

5. What are the chief obstacles to the successful enforce- 
ment of the compulsory education laws in the United States ? 

6. Only five per cent of the children in the United States 
who go to the elementary schools pass on to the higher schools. 
What explanation is there for this condition, and what meas- 
ures may be adopted to increase the proportion? 

7. What are the gi'ounds upon which public support of 
higher education in the United States is attacked, and what are 
the grounds upon which it may be defended? 

8. What are the advantages or disadvantages of the old 
apprenticeship system of industrial training over the present 
system ? 

307 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

9. Is there any danger that the general introduction of 
industrial education in the United States will result in a 
caste system of education? 

10. Do you approve of compulsory attendance of children 
from fourteen to sixteen years of age in evening continua- 
tion schools, as prevails in Germany? If you do, what should 
be the content of the work undertaken? 

11. What changes in the education for citizenship provided 
for our own people would you suggest for newly arrived 
immigrants ? 



CHAPTER XVII 

PRESENT TENDENCIES IN EDUCATION 

Outline. — The social motive that dominates education at 
present has put an emphasis upon the content subjects as 
against the formal subjects of the curiiculum. It also re- 
quires that educational sociology be added to educational psy- 
chology in the preparation of the teacher. 

The social motive is shown in the emphasis given to voca- 
tional guidance and vocational education to enable the indi- 
vidual better to prepare himself for the work which by nature 
he is best fitted to do and thereby prevent the social "misfit." 

The growth of public control of education has been accom- 
panied by an increasing' degree of secularization. This has 
brought to the front in the United States the problem of reli- 
gious and moral training, which has disturbed educational 
circles in European countries for some time. 

The modem conception of education demands that each child 
receive a training commensurate with his native capacities. 
Hence there is now greatly increased provision for the edu- 
cation of the feeble-minded, the blind, the deaf, and the 
crippled. 

Never before has attention been so systematically directed 
to improved methods of teaching and of school organization. 
The Montessori method and the Gary system are but two of 
many such. 

The use of scientific methods to discover the efficiency of 
school instruction and administration has led to the making 
of school "surveys" and the development of scales for meas- 
uring the results of instruction in a number of the elementary 
subjects. 

309 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

Educational extension in the forms of summer sessions, cor- 
respondence courses, medical inspection of school children, the 
"junior high school," and the larger use of the school plant 
gives evidence of the degree to which the school has been 
socialized. 

The reconstruction of educational theory keeps pace with 
reforms in educational organization and methods. In the 
United States at the present time. Professors Dewey, Thorn- 
dike, and Judd, among others, are having a profound influence 
upon the thinking teachers and educators. 

The social motive discussed in the last chapter is t he 
dominant motive in education at the present time and 
will probably continue to be in the immediate future. 
The school is democracy's instrument for realizing its 
broad and humanitarian ideal, namely, so to organize 
society that the relations existing between individuals 
and classes in our institutional life may result in a 
greater degree of social justice. Until comparatively 
recently it was the psychological motive alone that dom- 
inated the school ; the school organized its materials and 
practices in order to secure the development of the pow- 
ers and capacities of the individual child that he might 
realize his own personality. This was the natural re- 
sult of the emphasis upon individualism inaugurated by 
Rousseau and stressed by the educational reformers of 
the first half of the nineteenth century. It exalted psy- 
chology in the preparation of the teacher and made 
methodology the chief subject of instruction in the nor- 
mal schools. But it is now recognized that personality 
can be realized only by participating in the varied activi- 
ties of social life, and that social justice can be secure4„.*^ 
only by an accurate knowledge of the complicated struc- 
ture of society. The social motive, therefore, demands 
that the materials and practices of the school be so 

310 



PRESENT TENDENCIES IN EDUCATION 

organized as to make the school an introduction to and 
a preparation for social life. This has resulted in an 
emphasis upon the content subjects of the curriculum, 
as against the formal subjects. In the elementary 
school, as already stated, history, civics, geography, con- 
structive and industrial work have superseded spelling, 
grammar, and arithmetic in importance. In the college 
the social humanities, such as history, politics, economics, 
and sociology are daily trenching upon the domain of 
the literary humanities. This has been due not only to 
the social changes that have resulted from the industrial 
and political revolutions that took place during the past 
century, but also to the change in our way of thinking 
that resulted from the general acceptance of the theory 
of evolution. The commonly accepted definition of edu- 
cation today is that it is the process of developing in the 
individual a power of adjustment to an ever changing 
social environment. Just as in the lower forms of life 
non-adaptation to natural environment means destruc- 
tion, so with man non-adjustment to social environment 
means defeat and unhappiness. Hence the most impor- 
tant tendencies in the educational theory and the educa- 
tional practice of the present day, altho some may 
appear chiefly psychological in character, have for their 
aim the better adjustment of the individual to society, 
so as to secure for him a greater degree of social justice 
and individual happiness. Space will permit us to con- 
sider only a few of the many movements that engage the 
attention of educators today. 

Vocational Education and Vocational Guidance. — If 
social evolution is to be conscious and society is deliber- 
ately to rationalize its activities and organize itself to 
attain its ideal, the entrance of individuals into voca- 
tions regardless of fitness or of preparation must cease. 

311 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

Society is full of misfits leading unhappy lives and con- 
tributing little to social welfare because they are en- 
gaged in life activities which they entered by mere 
chance. The psychological aim of realizing the special 
powers and capacities of each individual and thereby 
securing a greater degree of personal happiness unites 
here with the sociological aim of adjusting the individual 
to a rapidly changing environment, and demands that 
opportunity be given to every child to ''find himself" 
and to discover to his teachers in what kind of activity 
required by society he had best engage. This could not 
be done under the old bookish curriculum, which ap- 
pealed to some children only and neglected large num- 
bers who, being motor-minded, learn and find self-ex- 
pression thru their hands. Moreover, the old curriculum 
was organized solely for children destined for business 
or the professions and neglected children who either 
by preference, fitness, or because of financial need would 
probably enter technical work or trades. The awakening 
to these anomalies has resulted in the introduction into 
the last two years of the elementary school of prevoca- 
tional studies, to enable pupils and teachers, as a 
result of trial and experiment, to discover whether the 
pupil is to proceed in academic, commercial, or technical 
studies, and, in the last case, in which technical study or 
trade. The vocationalizing of education is not confined 
to the elementary school, but proceeds thruout the 
entire educational system. Colleges that are a part of 
a university now generally permit a student to elect as 
a senior the first-year subjects of the professional school, 
and in some instances to complete the purely collegi- 
ate work at the end of the sophomore year. In non- 
university colleges the ' ' group ' ' system of courses is fre- 
quently organized upon a vocational basis. 

312 



PRESENT TENDENCIES IN EDUCATION 

Moral and Religious Education. — As we have seen, the 
growth of public control of education has been accom- 
panied by an increasing degree of secularization. In 
France not only is religious instruction barred from the 
public schools, but all reference to the supernatural is 
forbidden. Direct moral instruction has replaced relig- 
ious instruction, but there is a general feeling of dissatis- 
faction with the present condition of the problem. In 
Germany moral instruction is associated with dogmatic 
religious instruction. Every child is placed in one of 
three groups, Protestant, Catholic, or Jewish, according 
to the religious belief of his parents, and receives the 
religious instruction given to that group. The best opin- 
ion, however, seems to be that the results arc unsatis- 
factory. In England the voluntary schools associate 
moral teaching with dogmatic religious instruction, 
usually of the Established Church, the board schools 
with non-sectarian religious teaching. The whole situa- 
tion has been beclouded in England by the religious 
bitterness aroused by the competition between the two 
kinds of schools, and no one is satisfied with the results. 
In the United States religious teaching has generally 
been excluded from the public schools, and in some states 
even the reading of the Bible is considered a religious 
influence and therefore prohibited. Few would admit 
that we are an irreligious people because we do not give 
religious instruction in our public schools, but it is gen- 
erally conceded that less reliance is placed today upon 
religious sanctions for moral standards and more reli- 
ance upon a rational basis for them. The need of an 
emphasis upon moral instruction is particularly press- 
ing in a civilization where impersonal relations prevail 
to so large an extent as in ours. Where production is 
on a large scale and for a distant market, there exists a 

313 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

temptation to engage in questionable business practices ; 
where governmental machinery has become so compli- 
cated that officials are removed from the immediate scru- 
tiny of the people, there is a tendency to laxity in 
administration; where people are crowded into large 
cities, there is a disregard for conventions that public 
opinion would not permit in smaller communities in 
which everybody knows everybody else. But despite the 
general recognition of the importance of the problem 
there is no general agreement as to its solution. Some 
educators believe moral training should be left to the 
home and the church, but the general opinion holds 
that solution to be inadequate. Some believe in specific 
instruction in ethics, others in the moral influence of a 
well-organized school and well-conducted instruction. 
That the American people are alive to the importance 
of the problem is attested by the attention it receives 
at educational conventions and by the establishment of 
associations, such as the Religious Education Association, 
to study the problem. 

Education for Defective Children. — The modern con- 
ception of education demands that each child receive 
a training commensurate with his native capacities. To 
relieve society of a great financial burden by making 
defectives self-supporting, to develop in such children 
a feeling of personal worth, and to increase their indi- 
vidual happiness, specialized forms of education have 
been organized to conform to the needs of the various 
kinds of defective children. Remarkable progress has 
been made in the education of the deaf, in which the old 
*' manual" method of communicating ideas by means of 
finger movements has been superseded by the ''oral" 
method, by which the pupil is taught to read the move- 
ments of the lips and to employ his vocal organs in 

314 



PRESENT TENDENCIES IN EDUCATION 

speech. Provision is generally made in the school sys- 
tems of large cities and in state institutions for the edu- 
cation of the hlmd. And this usually includes not only 
intellectual instruction thru raised letters but, as in 
the case of the deaf, of industrial training in some 
direction that will result in self-support. Probably the 
greatest advance has been made in the education of the 
feeble-minded. This movement is inseparably connected 
with the name of Edouard Seguin (1812-1880), who 
came from Prance to the United States for political rea- 
sons in 1850 and continued his experiments in the educa- 
tion of mental defectives. His methods were based upon 
the general principle of appealing to the mind thru 
manual work particularly, and sensory work generally, 
and he made use of such materials as wax, clay, wood, 
paper, pictures, and patterns. More recently there have 
been attempts in some places to introduce a consider- 
able amount of formal intellectual instruction in the 
training of mental defectives, but with questionable 
success. Splendid progress has been made in the organi- 
zation of tests, like the Binet- Simon tests, to discover 
the existence of f eeble-mindedness ; of clinics for the 
investigation of proper methods of teaching; and of 
''ungraded classes" in the elementary schools for spe- 
cialized instruction. Open-air classes and schools for 
anemic and tubercular children give additional evidence 
of the modern desire to meet the specific needs of chil- 
dren that are not normal. 

Experiments in Educational Method. — Maria Montes- 
sori (1870-). — Madame Montessori began her edu- 
cational career as a teacher of mental defectives at Rome 
and had remarkable success in using and modifying the 
materials and practices of Seguin. It is questionable 
whether her methods have proved to be equally suitable 

315 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

to normal children : to the present time she has applied 
it only to very young children and those of the first two 
grades of the elementary school. She holds with Rous- 
seau that ''nature is right"; she demands, therefore, 
complete liberty for the child, and considers the only 
education worth while to be ''auto-education." In her 
school the general practice is to place the materials for 
education about the room. The child chooses whatever 
occupation interests him and continues to play or work 
at it without interference, unless he disturbs the other 
children in the room. This practice does give each pupil 
liberty to work independently on such material as he 
chooses, but the material is limited to a fixed number of 
things that must be handled in a certain way. It is a 
question whether her "didactic" apparatus, devised to 
train the senses and develop an ability to engage in prac- 
tical activities, such as dressing oneself, is not more 
suited to teaching mental defectives than normal chil- 
dren. The games and occupations of Froebel, so valu- 
able for the development of the imagination, feelings, 
and sense of social cooperation, are absent. Children do 
not work together at common pursuits ; and the teacher, 
unlike the kindergartner, is an observer of the children 's 
activities rather than a participant in them. Madame 
Montessori has had considerable success in working out 
methods to teach the three R's and particularly penman- 
ship, in which the children show great speed and skill. 
Her method in reading, however, is applicable only to a 
phonetic language like Italian, and her method in arith- 
metic makes little advance upon the best modern prac- 
tices. Tho she is inspired by the spirit of Rousseau 
and tho she has borrowed ideas from Pestalozzi and 
Froebel, her work lacks the social motive that dominates 
the education of today. 

316 



PRESENT TENDENCIES IN EDUCATION 

The Gary System. — Superintendent William Wirt of 
Gary, Indiana, has worked out during the past decade a 
work-study-play system of schools that has attracted the 
general attention of educators in the United States. In 
the ordinary city school all the children do the same 
thing at the same time. In the first period of the morn- 
ing all the children meet in the auditorium for general 
exercises and at the close of the period they pass to 
their classrooms and the auditorium remains practically 
unused for the rest of the day. Each child in a class- 
room has a seat reserved for him, so that when the chil- 
dren of a class are in the auditorium or in the play- 
ground, the classroom is unused, and vice versa. In 
Gary the school is provided with shops, laboratories, 
playgrounds, gymnasiums, swimming pools, libraries, 
gardens, and auditoriums, in addition to the regular 
classrooms. All these activities are conducted at the 
same time, so that in any period, while some children 
are studying or reciting the ordinary school subjects in 
classrooms, others are working in the shops and labora- 
tories, others are playing in the gymnasium or play- 
grounds, and still others are engaged in general exer- 
cises in the auditorium. This plan permits of an en- 
riched and more varied curriculum for the children and 
a longer school day, tho more time need not be de- 
voted to the formal school subjects. Moreover, it admits 
of double the number of pupils being housed in one 
school and has for that reason been seized upon as a 
means of solving the part-time problem which exists 
in most of the large cities, and as a means of saving 
expense. The plan has not yet been in operation long 
enough to enable us to judge whether the many adminis- 
trative and pedagogic obstacles to its successful working 
in congested districts inhabited by fluctuating popula- 

317 



THE HISTORY 0^ EDUCATION 

tions will permit the realization of the hopes of its 
adherents. But this remarkable organization is another 
illustration of the manner in which the social motive ani- 
mates school policy today in its effort to meet the press- 
ing needs of society. The Gary plan is only the most 
prominent of a number which are being tried out in 
various places in the United States but which lack of 
space forbids our discussing. 

Statistical Methods and Scientific Surveys. — ^Until a 
decade ago practically no attempt had been made to 
measure the results of school instruction or school ad- 
ministration by the precise, objective, scientific methods 
that prevail in the natural sciences. Now quantitative 
measurements are being applied with success to many 
school activities. The use of statistical methods in gath- 
ering information has resulted in supplanting guesswork 
by intelligent prevision in administrative matters. 
Thru the careful collection and study of statistics much 
is being learned about such school phenomena as re- 
tardation, elimination, and fatigue. Educational ''sur- 
veys, ' ' based upon scientific methods to discover the effi- 
ciency of school systems, have been made in many cities 
and are likely to become part of the school machinery 
of both city and state. Professor Edward L. Thorndike, 
of Columbia University, has been a pioneer in the appli- 
cation of statistical methods to education and has not 
only maintained, upon psychological grounds, the possi- 
bility of devising scales for the measurement of the re- 
sults of instruction, but has actually devised such for 
handwriting, arithmetic, and composition. Other inves- 
tigators have organized similar scales in those subjects, 
and also for measuring achievement in spelling and 
drawing. In a great variety of ways it is being made evi- 
dent that curricula, methods of teaching, and forms of 

318 



PRESENT TENDENCIES IN EDUCATION 

school organization and administration must justify 
themselves today upon rational grounds as socially effi- 
cient and not upon mere usage and tradition. 

Educational Extension. — The social motive controlling 
education is evident in the great variety of methods 
adopted to reach all the people and serve their needs. 
Practically every large university has a summer session ; 
these, grown to large proportions during the past decade, 
enable many people to satisfy their educational needs in 
the only way possible for them. Many universities have 
also university extension courses, some have correspond- 
ence courses, and the state universities in many instances 
have organized courses to meet the seasonal needs of 
people engaged in farming and other occupations. In 
secondary education we have such movements as the 
"junior high school," to combine the last two years of 
the elementary school with the first two of the high 
school, in order to prevent, if possible, the excessive elim- 
ination at the close of the elementary school period, as 
well as to give better opportunity for vocational guid- 
ance and vocational education. Medical inspection of 
pupils and better sanitary regulations in school build- 
ings show the influence of the school hygiene movement. 
Finally, to close with but one other illustration, the 
movement in favor of a greater use of the school plant 
has had remarkable success in making the school a com- 
munity and social center, in which the people of the 
neighborhood may not only receive instruction thru 
public lectures and political debates, but may secure 
healthful recreation in the form of dances, quiet games, 
and njioving-picture entertainments. The school has 
been socialized. 

Reconstructing Educational Theory. — John Dewey 
(1859-). — The greatest advances in the development of 

319 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

educational theory since the twentieth century opened 
have been made in the United States, and the leader in 
its reconstruction is Professor John Dewey of Columbia 
University. Professor Dewey is a distinguished scholar 
in the fields of philosophy and general psychology, but 
has made his most important contributions in connection 
with the social aspect of psychology. He organized and 
administered an experimental elementary school at the 
University of Chicago from 1896 to 1903, and his educa- 
tional theory is to a great extent the result of his appli- 
cation to that school of the principles he worked out 
in social psychology. His fundamental premise is that 
*'the school cannot be a preparation for life except as 
it reproduces the typical conditions of social life. ' ' The 
typical conditions of social life are determined by the 
industrial activities in which people engage; hence in- 
dustrial activities should have an important place in 
tho school curriculum. Weaving, sewing, cooking, and 
shopwork served in his school as the introduction to 
other industrial activities, all of which received a his- 
torical study. In this way the social participation pro- 
vided by Froebel's kindergarten was supplied, and mo- 
tor expression, which was the other chief characteristic 
of the kindergarten, received a freer development in 
Dewey's school, as his industrial activities did not be- 
come so formal and stereotyped as Froebel's "occupa- 
tions." Instruction in the formal studies, such as read- 
ing, writing, and arithmetic, were connected with the 
children's industrial activities, so that these subjects do 
not appear unconnected with everyday experience. A 
fine training in oral expression was given, because the in- 
dustrial activities provided the children with experiences 
that they wanted to talk about and also an audience that 
wanted to hear them. The gospel of training thru 

320 



PRESENT TENDENCIES IN EDUCATION 

industrial occupations by making them the basis of a 
study; of social relations is attractively set forth by Pro- 
fessor Dewey in his little book ''School and Society/* 
His ''Schools of To-morrow," which has recently ap- 
peared, and which describes the most important experi- 
ments in elementary education taking place in the 
United States at the present time, emphasizes the prin- 
ciple of preparation for social living as the aim of the 
school and the need of reconstruction in school organiza- 
tion, instruction, and curricula to realize that aim. 

Professor Dewey has made also an important contri- 
bution to educational method in his books "How We 
Think" and "Interest and Effort in Education," 
namely, the "problem method" of teaching, of which 
one well-known educator says, "Its active accep- 
tance by teachers would bring about a complete trans- 
formation of classroom method." From the time of 
Aristotle educators have thought of induction and de- 
duction as including the entire intellectual process, at 
least so far as teachers need give it attention. Professor 
Dewey has pointed out that these are the thought- 
processes only of one who has already thru experi- 
ence mastered the subject matter of his field, and that 
by far the greater part of our intellectual process is 
antecedent to this stage. We must, therefore, study these 
antecedent processes by which the mind of the individ- 
ual comes into relation with the objective world, and 
find in them the methods for the greater part of our 
teaching. Professor Dewey finds the characteristic 
feature of them to be "interest," by which he means a 
more or less conscious and partly instinctive desire of 
the individual to attain some end. But interest is to be 
considered only a stimulus to the higher intellectual 
processes, into harmony with whose workings the teacher 

321 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

must bring his schoolwork. He especially cautions us 
that the reaction against the attempt of centuries to 
apply Aristotelian methods to inexperienced minds, if 
not guided by such an understanding, will result in 
a conception of interest as mere temporary attention 
or momentary stimulation, and thus in failure to intro- 
duce any intellectual elements in education. 

Contemporary educational theory also owes much to 
the advocates of the "new psychology" who have not, 
perhaps, been so much influenced by the social motive as 
has Professor Dewey. Probably no recent book has 
had more influence upon the thinking of teachers and 
educators than the ''Talks to Teachers on Psychology" 
of the late William James (1842-1910). His emphasis 
upon the biological point of view in psychology — that 
man is primarily a behaving organism — ^had as an edu- 
cational corollary the emphasis upon learning thru 
doing, already introduced into education by Froebel. 
But one inference made by many teachers from the em- 
phasis on behavior as the fundamental factor in edu- 
cation has drawn forth a warning from such distin- 
guished psychologists as Professor E. L. Thorndike of 
Columbia, and Professor C. H. Judd of the Uni- 
versity of Chicago. The inference referred to is that 
motor-expression in the more direct forms which find 
fulfillment in constructive work, dramatization, and' 
manual training should have primacy in the curriculum. 
These psychologists point out that whatever thought 
man has ever had he has expressed in speech, and that 
no form of motor-expression compares in importance 
with speech. Thinking and speaking differentiate man 
from the lower animals and determine the way in which 
he adjusts himself to his environment. Developing the 
thought processes which translate sensory stimuli into 

322 



PRESENT TENDENCIES IN EDUCATION 

motor responses and training in language expression 
must not be subordinated, therefore, to the manual ac- 
tivities. All have their place in a socialized curriculum 
which aims at preparing the individual to engage in in- 
dustrial, political, and social activities with his fellow 
men. 

Another psychologist who has had a profound influ- 
ence upon education in the United States is G. Stanley 
Hall, president of Clarke University. Dr. Hall's 
** Adolescence," published in 1904, at once assumed a 
place of authority in the literature devoted to the edu- 
cation of youth and not only aroused interest in the 
problems of secondary education but stimulated ex- 
perimentation in their solution. 

The Eternal Problem : Harmonizing the Individual and 
Society. — ^In the introduction to this book the statement 
was, made that the great problem before every society, 
at all times and in all places, whether that society be 
in a primitive or in an advanced stage of development, 
is how to organize itself so that the individual shall have 
the freedom necessary to realize his own personality 
thru attaining his own ends and yet not endanger 
the stability and existence of society itself. Society is 
organized on institutions, and education must prepare 
the individual for life under institutions. The danger 
always exists, however, that the institution may be con- 
sidered as an end in itself, instead of as a means for the 
advancement of the welfare and happiness of the indi- 
vidual. We have seen how during the Middle Ages the 
individual was submerged in institutional control and 
had no rights apart from membership in some institu- 
tion, such as church, gild, castle, or university. Then 
came the Renaissance with its demand for the right of 
the individual to control his own destinies untrammeled 

323 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

by tradition and authority. The unwillingness of insti- 
tutions to modify themselves either in response to this 
demand or to changed social conditions resulted in a 
period of conflict, which terminated only in the French 
Revolution with individualism triumphant. For almost a 
century afterward, in political and educational thought, 
progress was considered only in terms of the individual. 
Costly experience and also the truer conception of prog- 
ress resulting from the general acceptance of the doc- 
trine of evolution have combined to harmonize the con- 
flicting views. It is true that the twentieth century has 
so far emphasized social control, but only that thereby 
every individual may better develop his native powers 
and capacities and attain to his greatest usefulness and 
happiness. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Articles in Cyclopedia of Education on Vocational Guid- 
ance and Vocational Education, Moral and Religious Educa- 
tion, Education for Defectives, Educational Extension, Edu- 
cational Theory, etc. 

CuBBERLEY, E. P. The Educational Ideal. 

Dewey, John and Evelyn. Schools of To-morrow. 

Graves, F. P, A History of Education. Vol. Ill, Chaps. 
XI-XII. 

MoNTESSORi, Maria. The Montessori Method. 

Monroe, P. Textbook in the History of Education. Chap. 
XIV. 

Parker, S. C. The History of Modem Elementary Educa- 
tion. Chap. XIX. 

QUESTIONS, COMPARISONS, AND TOPICS FOR 
FURTHER STUDY 

1. Criticize the following as the aim of education: to ^ve 
culture, to discipline the mind, to enable one to earn a living. 

324 



PRESENT TENDENCIES IN EDUCATION 

2. What changes can you mention that must be made in 
school organization and instruction to permit of an efficient use 
of vocational guidance? 

3. The Gary plan permits children to repair to the neigh- 
boring church for a period of religious and moral instruc- 
tion. Do you approve of that system? If not, what do you 
suggest in its stead to secure religious or moral instruction ? 

4. Do the benefits of permitting mentally deficient chil- 
dren to attend school with normal children outweigh the dis- 
advantages, or should all the feeble-minded be placed in spe- 
cial institutions? 

5. Compare the conception of ^'liberty" as illustrated in 
the Montessori system with that in the Froebel system. How 
could the two systems be united to secure a better training 
in early childhood? 

6. What danger exists in the introduction of "efficiency" 
methods in school instruction and administration? 

7. What changes are necessary to make the rural school 
a neighborhood center for the general education and recreation 
of the people? 

8. In the early nineteenth century the minister was the most 
influential factor in the village and moral community. How 
can the teftcher be made such today? 

9. Show in what respects John Dewey has been influenced 
by Rousseau. 

10. Does the education of today emphasize service to so- 
ciety as much as it emphasizes the rights of the individual ? 

11. What value do athletics possess as a means of moral 
education? What do the social activities and social organiza- 
tions of the school? 



PART V 
NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION 



CHAPTER XYIII 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL SYSTEMS OP 

EDUCATION 

Outline. — A. The United States. Education in the United 
States has passed thru four periods: (1) The period of 
colonial education in which religion was the dominant motive. 
The selective type of education prevailed in the southern 
colonies; the parochial school type in the middle colonies; and 
the town school type in New England. (2) The transition 
period from the Revolution to the public school revival. In 
this period there existed definite obstacles to the development 
of public education and important movements stimulating it. 
(3) The period of the public school revival (1837-1876), in 
which, largely as the result of the work of such leaders as 
Horace Mann and Henry Barnard, there was developed in all 
states a public educational system of varying extent and 
strength. (4) The period of educational expansion. This 
period is characterized by an increasing centralization of state 
control and a great extension of educational facilities. 

B. Germany. Frederick the Great laid the real founda- 
tion for the present Prussian system of education in his Gen- 
eral School Regulations of 1763. During the reign of his 
successor, the General Code of Prussian law was adopted in 
1794, which proclaimed unequivocally the supremacy of the 
state in education. The next great step in advance was taken 
after the battle of Jena in 1806, when reforms affecting every 
branch of education were adopted and the University of Ber- 
lin was founded. Tho the years 1818-1860 formed a period 
of reaction politically, the schools were finally separated from 
Church control and full state control was established. The 

329 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

period since 1871 has been one of intense nationalism in which 
the school has become the chief agency of the state to work 
out its views of political and economic life. Organization of 
the German system. " 

C. France. Tho the Revolutionary Convention gave a 
great deal of attention to the establishment of a national and 
lay system of education, little was really accomplished in 
the revolutionary period except the reorganization of secondary 
and higher education by Napoleon in 1802-1806. Elementary 
education fell under the control of the church after the Revo- 
lution in 1815 and remained so until the passage of Guizot's 
Law in 1833. That was the real foundation of the French 
system of elementary education. The Second Empire, how- 
ever, was favorable to religious control of elementary schools, 
with the result that the Third Republic had not only to recover 
lost ground, but was compelled to enter into a conflict with 
the Church for the control of education, which finally resulted 
in its complete secularization in 1904. France has today the 
most completely centralized system of state-controlled and 
state-supported schools in western Europe. Organization of 
the French system of education. 

D. England. England relied upon philanthropy to do the 
work of the state in education longer than any of the other 
great nations of the West. The first step towards state sup- 
port was taken in 1833, when a parliamentary grant of money 
was made to the schools of the two great religious educational 
societies. From that time until 1870 those two societies re- 
mained the media for the distribution of state grants. In 
that year, a system of "board" schools was established to be 
organized, supported, and controlled by the state, which, how- 
ever, continued its grants to the religious "voluntary" schools. 
Because of the remarkable growth of the board schools, the 
conservative party in 1902 secured the passage of an act 
favoring the voluntary schools but placing all schools under 
the supervision of public officials, and education in England 
is now organized under the law of 1902. Description of its 
organization. 

. 330 



NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION 

THE UNITED STATES 

In the case of the United States we shall have to go 
back farther in time than with the European countries, 
especially because a knowledge of the development of 
education in the United States in the nineteenth cen- 
tury cannot be obtained without a previous understand- 
ing of the peculiar social conditions that obtained dur- 
ing the colonial period. 

I, Colonial Education 

The Predominance of the Religious Motive. — ^We saw 
in Chapter IX that the Reformation principle, that the 
individual should be guided in life by the Bible, had as 
an educational corollary that he should at least be 
taught to read it. We saw also that where the Reforma- 
tion was chiefly a religious movement and was carried 
to logical conclusions, the effect upon the development 
of universal education was direct; but that where the 
Reformation was political and ecclesiastical rather than 
religious, and halting rather than thoro, the atti- 
tude towards education was one of comparative indif- 
ference and neglect. The former condition was true 
wherever Calvinism prevailed, as in the Netherlands, 
Scotland, and among the Puritans in England ; the lat- 
ter condition was true in England generally, where the 
Anglican church was in the nature of a compromise. 
The United States was settled in the seventeenth cen- 
tury, when religious antagonisms were most bitter; and 
it was settled largely by groups of people who fled from 
Europe because of religious persecution and because of 
their desire to worship in their own peculiar way. The 
kind of educational system that would be established in 

331 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

any part of the new land would be determined chiefly 
by the kind of religious opinions held by the people set- 
tling there. And, as Professor Graves has pointed out, 
we do find three fairly distinct types of education de- 
veloping in the colonies. 

a. The Selective Type prevailed in the southern col- 
onies generally, of which Virginia is fairly typical. In 
none of the colonies were the social conditions of the 
mother country so reproduced as in Virginia, where dis- 
tinctions of classes developed and the Anglican Church 
was established. The gentry employed tutors for their 
own children or sent them to England for instruction. 
They not only were not interested in the education of 
the masses, who were in many instances indentured ser- 
vants and convicts, but they believed solely in the sys- 
tem of apprenticeship as preparation for the trades 
which were to be the life work of these lower classes. 
Here and there secondary schools were established by 
individuals or voluntaiy associations, but neither the 
Church nor the colonial government took a direct interest 
in the organization of any system of education. In 1692 
the College of William and Mary was founded, with a 
splendid endowment and equipment for those days ; and 
during the eighteenth century it rendered admirable 
service to the colony in the equipment of leaders in all 
the higher walks of life. But down to the Revolution 
the character that was impressed upon education in Vir- 
ginia in the seventeenth century remained, i. e., good 
provision for higher education, fair provision for sec- 
ondary instruction thru the voluntary and haphaz- 
ard establishment of Latin schools, and little provision 
for elementary training beyond the system of appren- 
ticeship. A few elementary schools were established, 
but where they were for the common people they were 

332 



NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION 

called **poor schools." And what is true of Virginia is 
true generally of the other southern colonies. Wherever 
there was any attempt to establish public schools, it was 
associated with settlements of Scotch-Irish Presbyteri- 
ans or other dissenters, as in North Carolina. 

b. The Parochial School Type prevailed in the middle 
colonies. These colonies were settled chiefly by various 
Calvinistic sects, such as the Dutch Reformed in New 
York and the Presbyterians in New Jersey, or by other 
sects of the advanced Protestant type, as the Quakers 
and Mennonites of Pennsylvania. They all believed in 
the need of everyone reading the Bible, and all, there- 
fore, favored elementary education. But as each sect 
denied the value of the tenets of the others to effect 
salvation, this elementary education took the form of 
parish schools attached to the churches. The Dutch 
transplanted to New Netherlands the excellent system of 
parochial schools that prevailed at home, and some at- 
tention was given also to secondary education j but after 
the English occupation in 1674 the same haphazard 
attitude towards education wais adopted that prevailed 
in the southern colonies. Pennsylvania retained its pa- 
rochial system thruout the colonial period, but sec- 
tarian jealousy prevented anything like uniformity de- 
veloping. The Quakers, Moravians, and Presbyterians 
also maintained ''grammar" schools for secondary edu- 
cation in that colony. In New Jersey and Delaware, 
tho parochial schools existed, they were established 
in a still more haphazard manner than in New York and 
Pennsylvania. With the founding of King's College 
(now Columbia University), the Academy of Pennsyl- 
vania (now the University of Pennsylvania), and Prince- 
ton, the middle colonies at the time of the Revolution 
were far better provided with elementary, secondary, 

333 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

and higher education than were the southern colonies, 
c. The Town School prevailed in New England ; those 
of Massachusetts may be taken as typical. The people 
who founded the colony of Massachusetts were a ho- 
mogeneous group. There was very little distinction of 
classes among them as prevailed in the southern col- 
onies, and no distinction of sects as there was in 
the middle colonies. They were mostly of the middle 
class socially, were generally well-educated and had uni- 
versity graduates for leaders, were thoro believers in 
democratic government, and were strong upholders of 
the Calvinistic-Genevan principle of the "church-state'* 
form of government. Holding firmly to the necessity of 
everyone's being able to read the Bible, the GeneraF 
Court, i. e., the legislature, passed the famous Law of 
1647, by which ''the Puritan government of Massachu- 
setts rendered probably its greatest service to the fu- 
ture. ' ' Schools had been founded in some of the towns 
previous to 1647, but by voluntary efforts. The Law of 
1647 provided that every town that contained fifty fami- 
lies should maintain an elementary school whose teacher 
should be paid partly from tuition fees and partly from 
taxation. If a town had one hundred families it must 
maintain in addition a "grammar" school to fit the' 
youth for the university. A town that neglected to con- 
form to the provisions of the law was to be fined £5 — at 
the beginning of the eighteenth century the fine was in- 
creased to £20. The religious motive that prompted the 
law is stated in the preamble, namely, to thwart the 
"one chief project of that old deluder, Satan, to keep 
men from a knowledge of the Scriptures. ' ' The Church 
imposed the law thru its instrument, the state, but the 
law continued to be the ideal of the state after the school 
had been completely secularized. The Massachusetts 

334 



NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION 

type of school was adopted in all the other New Eng- 
land colonies except Rhode Island, where the fanatical 
devotion to freedom of thought and of speech resulted 
in a random growth of schools such as characterized the 
southern colonies. 

Unfortunately subsequent developments resulted in 
the decline of education in New England and the de- 
generation of the town school: (1) With the establish- 
ment of the Commonwealth in England migration of 
Puritans to New England practically ceased ; and when 
the fine university scholars who had been the early lead- 
ers died off, there were no such lovers of learning to 
replace them. (2) There was a growth of liberalism both 
in the colonies and in the mother country, as evidenced, 
for instance, in the Toleration Act passed by Parliament 
in 1690. Before the opening of the eighteenth century 
the unity of religious belief that had characterized 
Massachusetts and New England generally gave way to 
divergence of belief and toleration of other sects. With 
the decline of the intense religious spirit there was a 
corresponding decline in the education that had been in- 
spired by it. (3) The chief causes of the decline of 
the town school were the spread of population into un- 
settled regions and the attainment of local government 
by districts within the town. The houses of the early 
settlers were clustered around the meetinghouse, partly 
for better protection against Indians and partly because 
of religious devotion. As these two incentives grad- 
ually passed away, settlers moved into parts of the town 
from which the town school was inaccessible, or they 
moved into entirely new regions that had no town 
center. The new hamlets that then arose demanded 
equality of opportunity to attend school for their chil- 
dren. This resulted at first in the ''moving" school, i. e.,^ 

335 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

the entire town supported a teacher, but instead of be- 
ing maintained permanently in one place to which all 
children went, he moved to several places for a few 
months each. The last step in the decline of the public 
school in New England took place when each district 
within the town established its "district" school. The 
''moving" school had at least a good teacher with fair 
pay, who taught thruout the year ; but the district school 
could afford only a poor teacher, who *'kept" school in 
each district a few months in the year. Hence the Revo- 
lution found New England provided with far poorer 
facilities for elementary education than had existed 
a century before. There had also been a gradual de- 
cline in the "grammar" school, which furnished sec- 
ondary instruction ; but Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, and 
Brown supplied the higher education needed by the 
members of the learned professions. 

II. The Transition Period. From the Revolution to the 
Public School Revival. 

From a material standpoint the Revolution had an evil 
effect upon the growth of public education in the United 
States; from a spiritual standpoint it had a beneficent 
effect. The war bankrupted not only the central govern- 
ment but many of the state governments. The British 
troops ravaged the country from New England to Geor- 
gia, and the British fleet destroyed colonial commerce. 
Industry was at a standstill, and many people were re- 
duced to poverty. War is essentially destructive and 
usually diverts attention from constructive human ac- 
tivities like education, and in hard times education is 
generally one of the human activities that is first to 
suffer. But the principles of liberty and equality, for 

336 



NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION 

which the war was fought, combined with the growth 
of a new political and social order to develop 
a belief in the need of universal education to achieve 
those principles and that order. This movement in 
favor of public education had a number of difficult 
obstacles to overcome but was hastened by a number 
of subsidiary movements. We shall first consider the 
obstacles. 

A. Obstacles to the Development of Public Education. 
— 1. The Practice of Granting Public Moneys to Private 
Schools. — Tho this practice was general, its effect is best 
shown in connection with the academy movement in New 
England and the Free School Society movement in New 
York City. 

As already stated, one of the results of the develop- 
ment of the district school system in New England was 
the disappearance of the ''grammar" school, which had 
provided secondary education. The increase in the cost 
of supporting several district elementary schools in a 
town reduced the town's financial capacity to maintain 
any secondary school. This difficulty, which had existed 
before the Revolution, was increased by the poverty 
resulting from the Revolution. But the well-to-do 
classes would not let their children go without secondary 
instruction, and the policy was inaugurated of estab- 
lishing private secondary schools called *' academies.** 
Tho these academies were private corporations, thru 
the influence of their supporters they were usually able 
to receive subsidies of public moneys either from the 
state government or from the towns. They performed 
a splendid service, for they were generally well organ- 
ized and administered, were responsive to the needs of 
their constituents, introduced modem subjects like Eng- 
lish literature and science, which in turn influenced col- 

337 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

lege curricula, and thru their demand for well-equipped 
teachers helped to hasten the advent of the normal 
schools. But they were pay schools and hence not open 
to the children of the masses; they withdrew the at- 
tention of the well-to-do and public-spirited from public 
education just when it was most needed there; and 
they created vested interests which were often opposed 
to public interests. When one considers that by 1840 
Massachusetts alone had fifty such private academies 
subsidized with public funds and that the movement 
had spread thruout the country, one can realize the 
extent to which they were an obstacle to the growth of 
public secondary schools. 

The Free School Society of New York City was or- 
ganized in 1805 by a body of philanthropists headed 
by De Witt Clinton, to establish schools for children who 
did not attend either the church or the private schools 
which then provided the very inadequate school facili- 
ties of the city. The Society prospered from the very 
beginning, sharing in the state school fund that had 
been established and receiving grants of money from 
the city government. In 1826 it secured a new charter 
from the state, changing its name to the Public School 
Society of New York and granting it permission to 
charge a fee for children whose parents could afford 
it. The great service it was rendering was at once made 
evident, for the attendance at its schools immediately 
fell off because many parents ''were too poor to pay 
and too proud to confess their poverty." The system 
was abolished after a few years of trial, and the schools 
again made free to all; but the name Public School So- 
ciety was retained as less suggestive of pauperism. A 
local tax for the support of schools was authorized by 
the state legislature in 1828, the proceeds of which were 

338 



NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION 

granted to the Society. It maintained its prosperous 
career, continued to found schools, and seemed to be 
thoroly intrenched in its control of elementary educa- 
tion. Fortunately for the cause of public education, the 
Society had aroused the suspicion and animosity of 
several of the religious sects which repeatedly demanded 
of the City Council the right of their schools to share 
in the public school funds. The City Council refused 
to meet these demands, and in 1842 the Catholics took 
the fight to the legislature on the ground that the non- 
serctarian instruction given in the schools of the Society 
was really Protestant. As a result of the legislative 
hearings it became evident that the public welfare would 
not best be served either by continuing to grant the 
school funds to a private corporation or by dividing 
them among warring religious sects. The legislature, 
therefore, in 1842 established a Board of Education for 
New York City, to be elected by the people and to con- 
trol the use of the school funds, no portion of which 
was to be given to a sectarian school. Thus was estab- 
lished New York City's system of public elementary 
schools. 

2. Sectarian Religious Jealousy. — The second obstacle 
to the development of public education was sectarian 
religious jealousy. The work of the Public School So- 
ciety of New York was imitated by similar societies in 
other cities, such as Philadelphia, tho not with the same 
degree of success : their efforts did not usually have the 
beneficial effect upon the development of public educa- 
tion seen in New York City. Far more typical was the 
experience of Pennsylvania. Some of the most progres- 
sive leaders in Pennsylvania after the Revolution worked 
for the establishment of public elementary education, 
but in vain. The generally accepted opinion was that 

339 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

elementary education should be provided by the 
churches. Quakers, Lutherans, Mennonites, and Re- 
formed all opposed a movement which would prevent 
the teaching of their own peculiar forms of religion and 
which would also render valueless the school property 
that they had accumulated. The result was that the best 
the reformers could do was to secure legislation, in 
1802, to provide for the payment to private schools of 
public moneys raised by local taxation, for the instruc- 
tion of children whose parents were too poor to pay. 
Tho this law was modified to allow certain localities, like 
Philadelphia, to establish " pauper '^ schools for chil- 
dren of poor parents instead of paying for them in 
private schools, it remained the law for the whole state 
until 1834. In that year the Pennsylvania Society for 
the Promotion of Public Schools secured after seven 
years of agitation the passage of a law permitting town- 
ships and boroughs to constitute themselves into school 
districts to levy school taxes for common schools and 
thereby to share in the state common school fund which 
had been established. Sectarian opposition was so strong 
in ^'old," i. e., eastern, Pennsylvania that over one- 
half of the school districts of the whole state either 
voted against levying the tax or took no action. A 
strong fight was made in the following year to secure 
the repeal of the law, but, largely because of the vigor- 
ous support given to the law by the people of the north- 
ern and western counties inhabited by New Englanders 
and Scotch-Irish Presbyterian colonists, the attempt 
failed. Sectarian opposition delayed in a similar man- 
ner the establishment of a public school system in New 
Jersey and Delaware. 

3. The Idea of Public Education as Pauper Educor 
turn. — ^A third obstacle to the development of public 

340 



NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION 

education was the prevalence of the idea of public edu- 
cation as pauper education. The delay in the establish- 
ment of common schools in Pennsylvania, tho chiefly 
due to sectarian opposition, was strengthened by the 
dislike of poor parents of sending their children as 
paupers either to private schools or to public "pauper** 
schools. And the idea that public education meant 
pauper education prevailed generally thruout the coun- 
try south of New England. How great an obstacle to 
the spread of public schools this idea was, may, perhaps, 
best be illustrated from the history of education in the 
South. We have seen that in the South generally very 
little interest in the establishment of common elementary 
schools had been shown by the influential classes before 
the Revolution. Thomas Jefferson was the chief ad- 
herent of the public school ; even during the war he in- 
troduced a bill into the legislature to establish a sys- 
tem of public education extending from the elementary 
school thru the college. This was, of course, far in 
advance of the times, but Jefferson was able to stimu- 
late sufficient interest to secure the passage of a law in 
1796 to permit the justices of each community to estab- 
lish public schools by local taxation. Nothing was ac- 
complished, however, until in 1810 the legislature estab-* 
lished a *' literary fund" for the support of public edu- 
cation. The considerable amount of money accumulated 
in this fund was devoted chiefly to the establishment of 
the University of Virginia in 1820, tho $45,000 was ap- 
propriated in 1818 to subsidize schools for the instruc- 
tion of poor children. These actions will illustrate the 
general attitude toward the educational problem on 
the part of the influential classes. Jefferson advocated 
the public schools as an institution for training in citi- 
zenship. What eventuated was a form of poor relief. 

341 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

Nevertheless the system of ''poor" schools that came 
to be established from the proceeds of the literary fund, 
while wholly inadequate, did familiarize the minds of 
the people with the idea of public support of elementary 
schools. The same social discrimination against the pub- 
lic school as a pauper institution prevailed in varying 
degrees in the other southern states. But thru the es- 
tablishment of literary funds to subsidize schools for 
the poor and the passage of permissive laws to estab- 
lish common schools, some progress had been made by 
the time of Horace Mann. In fact, in nearly all the 
large cities of the South regular systems of public 
schools had been established. 

4. The Existence of the District Schools. — A 
fourth obstacle to the development of public education 
was the existence of the district school. We have al- 
ready seen that by the time of the Revolution the town 
school in New England had gradually given way to the 
district school. The latter was at first something in the 
nature of a convenience developed by local necessity, 
but it gradually acquired legal existence. The school 
district was given power to levy local taxes and to en- 
force contracts, and finally, in 1827, to elect a school 
committeeman to take charge of the school property 
and to employ the teacher. The result was that every- 
thing connected with the school, the selection of the site, 
the choice of the committeeman, the appointment of the 
teacher, became a matter of political strife, in which sec- 
tarian antagonisms and petty private interests pre- 
vailed. Poor schools with inefficient teachers, open for 
but a few months of the year, were the natural conse- 
quence. However, there were not lacking men who 
perceived the evils of the district school system, and a 
vigorous campaign was carried on in the press and on 

342 



NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION 

the platform for their betterment. The most influential 
advocate of reform was James G. Carter (1795-1849), 
who as a member of the Massachusetts legislature se- 
cured the passage of several acts which were the real 
beginning of the public school revival. In 1826 every 
town was required to choose a school committee to super- 
vise the schools of the town, select textbooks, and cer- 
tify teachers, tho the district committeeman could still 
appoint a teacher. In 1834 a state school fund was 
established, in which a town could share on condition 
that it raise by tax a dollar for each child of school age. 
Carter's efforts culminated in 1837 in the passage of a 
bill for the establishment of a. State Board of Educa- 
tion to consist of eight members. It was to have no ex- 
ecutive powers, but was to collect information upon 
school affairs and recommend changes to the legisla- 
ture. Horace Mann was elected its first secretary, and 
with his name is associated the reform of the district 
school. 

5. The Claim That the Public School Was Based upon 
an Undemocratic Principle. — A fifth obstacle to the de- 
velopment of public education was the claim that the 
public school was based upon an undemocratic principle. 
In all the sections of the country that we have thus 
far discussed many wealthy persons were found in the 
first ranks of the reformers who demanded free schools 
for all, supported and controlled by public agencies. 
But the selfish propertied classes everywhere bolstered 
their opposition to public support upon the ground 
that it was both undemocratic and unjust to compel 
people without children to pay for a service from which 
they received no benefit. That this should be true in 
the older states of the East is not so surprising; but 
it held true also in the newer states west of the Alle- 

343 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

ghanies, and delayed the development of public schools 
there. 

Immigration from the older states westward followed 
parallels of latitude, and the social and educational 
ideals that prevailed in the new states were determined 
by the place of origin of the settlers. The attitude of 
indifference that prevailed in the old southern states 
was carried, with diminished force it is true, into the 
new states south of the Ohio River. The territory north 
of the Ohio was claimed in part by older states both 
of the North and South. Its southern regions were 
settled largely by people from the southern states and 
its northern portion by people from New England and 
New York. All the states that made claim to part of 
this territory finally ceded their claims to the federal 
government and the territory was organized under the 
famous Ordinance of 1787. In accordance with the pro- 
visions of this act the entire territory was divided into 
townships six miles square, and of the thirty-six sections 
into which each town was subdivided, section sixteen 
was reserved for the support of public schools. More- 
over, by a later act two or three whole townships were 
reserved for the support of a state university. This ad- 
mirable policy was continued in all the federal terri- 
tory which was afterwards secured by the United States 
thru purchase or conquest and sold to the residents of 
the states created out of it. 

It is obvious that a firm foundation was thereby pro- 
vided for a system of public education. One might as- 
sume that, buttressed by the new social system that arose 
in the West, in which personal worth counted for more 
than social influence and the demand for **a free field 
and no favor" was the most popular maxim, this policy 
would have brought immediate results. But people's at- 

344 



NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION 

tention was almost exclusively devoted to founding a 
home in a wild and unsettled country, where no facilities 
for transportation and communication existed. The 
successful man was not the man of "book learning," 
who was viewed rather with disdain ; but the strong man 
of shrewd judgment who could hew his way to the 
top, arid who often did not see why his success should 
be penalized by taxation in favor of the less successful. 
This view, strengthened by other unfavorable influences, 
such as the sectarian jealousies brought by the settlers 
to their new homes, resulted in the halting advance of 
public education which is associated with subsidies to 
private schools for the instruction of poor children and 
"permissive" legislation for the establishment of pub- 
lic schools. In 1824 an act was passed in Indiana per- 
mitting townships to elect school trustees to control the 
schools that might be established. It was ineffective be- 
cause few schools were established. In 1831 another act 
permitted the voters of the school districts into which 
townships were divided to decide the amount of local 
tax to be levied for the support of public schools. But 
the act contained the proviso that "no person should 
be liable for tax who does not, or does not wish to par- 
ticipate in the benefit of the school fund. ' ' Altho addi- 
tional school legislation was made before 1840 in Indi- 
ana, it did not result in the establishment of a public 
school system. This was also true of Illinois ; but Ohio 
and Michigan, the other two states carved from the 
Northwest Territory, succeeded in establishing a com- 
plete system, with a state superintendent to supervise it, 
in 1836 and 1837, respectively. 

B. Movements Stimulating the Development of Public 
Education. — As these movements were nearly all philan- 
thropic in character they have been discussed in Chapter 

345 



THE HISTOBY OF EDUCATION 

XVI, and it remains only briefly to explain their in- 
fluence in stimulating the development of the public 
school system of the United States. 

1. The Sunday School Move^nent. — It must be remem- 
bered that as first organized the Sunday school was not 
a church institution but was organized to educate the 
poor, the ignorant, and the vicious, and that in it were 
taught secular as well as religious subjects. It is true 
that the secular Sunday schools stimulated the churches 
to action, and that the Sunday school soon fell almost ex- 
clusively under church control and gave up secular in- 
struction. But it became an institution for all children 
instead of for the poor and ignorant only, and was a 
step in the direction of accustoming people to think of 
secular education for all. 

2. The Monitorial System. — So slight was the provi- 
sion for free education in most parts of the United States 
when Lancaster's system of monitorial teaching was in- 
troduced in 1806, that cheap instruction was absolutely 
essential to the introduction of any system of public 
education. The monitorial system was just what was 
needed. As late as 1834, in Philadelphia, there was but 
one teacher to two hundred and eighteen pupils and the 
cost per pupil never rose above $5.00 per annum. The 
cheapness of the system had a great influence in secur- 
ing appropriations from legislatures for the establish- 
ment of public schools. Moreover, the enthusiasm of its 
advocates awakened thought and provoked discussion 
on the question of education in all its aspects. And the 
model schools which were established for the prepara- 
tion of teachers prepared the way for the normal schools 
which had so much to do with the improvement of 
public education in the United States. 

3. The Infant School Movement. — This movement is 

346 



NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION 

responsible for the organization of primary education in 
the United States, which up to the time of the spread 
of the movement had been sadly neglected. It came 
at an opportune time, when opposition to the monitorial 
system had begun to develop upon pedagogical grounds 
and the demand that small group work supersede mass 
instruction became pronounced. The infant school was 
also instrumental in introducing Pestalozzian methods 
into elementary education and developing a preference 
for female teachers for younger pupils. At first the 
infant school was entirely distinct from the elementary 
school, but when both were taken over from philan- 
thropic agencies by the public authorities, the infant 
school became the primary department of the elementary 
school. 

4. Foreign Influences Favorable to the Spread of Pub- 
lic Education. — The discussions and resolutions in the 
French Revolutionary Assembly in favor of public ele- 
mentary education had a direct effect upon some leaders 
of thought in the United States, notably Jefferson. But 
far more influential were the numerous official and un- 
official reports of the Prussian and other German sys- 
tems of state education, that were published in the 
United States between 1820 and 1840. Some of these 
reports were reprinted for distribution by several states. 
Moreover, the great mass of intelligent Germans who 
emigrated to the United States after the Revolution of 
1848 were imbued with the idea of school systems sup- 
ported and controlled by the state, and they became 
centers of influence in favor of the establishment of 
public systems in the communities where they settled. 

5. Results of the Interplwy of These Opposing In- 
fluences. — ^When the Revolution was over, the educa- 
tional ideals and institutions that had been transplanted 

347 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

from Europe in the Colonial period still prevailed out- 
side of New England. Until the end of the transition 
period, about 1840, the obstacles that have been dis- 
cussed in this section had been sufficiently strong to pre- 
vent the establishment, except in a few states, of a 
general system of public education. But the growing 
spirit of democracy everywhere, combined with the ne- 
cessity of meeting the demands of a new environment, 
brought about a great change in ideals and considerable 
change in institutions. Everywhere education was be- 
coming less aristocratic and sectarian, more democratic 
and secular. But despite that fact and despite the in- 
fluence of the movements that we have just discussed, 
which so strongly assisted in the development of a pub- 
lic school system, that hoped-for end came only as the 
result of a great awakening, to which we must now 
direct our attention. 

777. The PuhUc School Revival (1837-1876) 

The movement known as the ** public school revival'' 
began with an attempt to arouse interest in the reform 
of the existing common schools, and eventuated in all 
states in a public educational system providing free 
elementary and secondary education, and in many states 
higher education also. The revival was well launched by 
1840 and had in general accomplished its aim by the 
close of the Reconstruction period in 1876, except in the 
southern states. There, tho the principle upon which 
it was based had been adopted, its realization was de- 
layed by the deplorable conditions resulting from the 
Civil War. The movement can best be understood by a 
study of the career of a few of its great leaders, and the 
one first to be considered is Horace Mann. 

348 



NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION 

Horace Mann (1796-1859). — Horace Mann was born 
in western Massachusetts of poor parents who could 
give him no education beyond that of the neighboring 
district school ; but almost wholly by his own efforts he 
was able to graduate from Brown University and after- 
wards to enter the legal profession, of which he became 
a distinguished member in Boston. He was deeply in- 
terested in practically every contemporaneous movement 
for social welfare, was singularly unselfish in character, 
and was possessed of the sound judgment that is usually 
associated with wide experience. All these traits were 
needed by the man who was to be the first secretary 
to the new State Board of Education, which was estab- 
lished by Massachusetts in 1837. For the board had no 
real powers; and its permanence, influence, and success 
depended almost wholly upon the character, intelligence, 
and ability of its secretary. The work accomplished dur- 
ing the twelve years of his incumbency of that office 
(1837-1849) proved the wisdom of the choice of Mr. 
Mann. 

Mr. Mann understood that his first great task was 
to arouse a new public spirit, to change the apathy and 
indifference of the people towards the common schools 
into active enthusiasm. To do this he collected informa- 
tion in every possible way concerning the wretched con- 
dition of the district schools in the United States, and 
concerning improved methods and systems elsewhere 
which might serve as models. With this information 
at his disposal, he adopted three methods of educating 
the people of Massachusetts: (1) he made tours of the 
entire state, holding public meetings at which he ex- 
plained the need of improvement and the means whereby 
it might be realized; (2) he issued his famous Annual 
BeportSf which treat of practically every educational 

349 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

problem of interest at the time and which were read 
extensively not only in Massachusetts but in many other 
states; (3) he published the Common School Journal to 
spread information periodically concerning the work of 
the Board of Education, the evil conditions found, and 
the ways best calculated to overcome them. 

As a result of this campaign of education, carried on 
at the expense of his health and financial resources, Mr. 
Mann was able to secure reforms in the public educa- 
tional systems of Massachusetts which are little less than 
astonishing in their extent and value. Among these 
reforms the following are important: (1) The estab- 
lishment of three public normal schools in different parts 
of the state for the proper training of teachers. These 
were highly successful from the start and had a great 
influence in elevating the teaching vocation in public 
esteem, (2) The addition of a full month to the aver- 
age school year and the remarkable increase in at- 
tendance of pupils in the elementary school. (3) The 
gradual substitution of the public high school for the 
private academy. Before the close of his tenure of 
the office of secretary, fifty new high schools had been 
established. (4) The growth of appropriations for pub- 
lic education, which were more than doubled during 
his regime. The ratio of private school expenditures to 
those of the public schools was decreased from seventy- 
five to thirty-six per cent. (5) The increase in compen- 
sation for teachers, which, in the case of men, was 
sixty-two per cent, and of women, fifty-one per cent, 
tho the number of women teachers had more than 
doubled. (6) The adoption of new agencies for increas- 
ing the efficiency of teachers, such as teachers' institutes 
and school libraries. (7) The adoption of new methods 
of teaching, especially Pestalozzian object lessons and 

350 



NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION 

oral instruction, and of milder discipline based upon an 
understanding of child nature. 

These admirable reforms were not secured, however, 
without bitter opposition, especially from two sources: 
the conservative schoolmasters, and the sectarian re- 
ligious interests. Mr. Mann's Seventh Annual Report 
(1843) was the one which gave particular offense to the 
unprogressive teachers; it brought about a storm of 
controversy^ It gave an account of his visit to foreign 
schools during the previous year and was full of praise 
for what he saw in the Prussian schools, where real in- 
struction was given by teachers instead of the mere hear- 
ing of recitations from books, where the arousing of in- 
terest was relied upon to secure attention instead of the 
giving of punishment, and where teachers were filled 
with the spirit of enthusiasm instead of dull routine. 
The Report did not mention the Boston schools, but the 
conservative teachers of Boston felt themselves attacked 
and made a savage reply. The attention that was drawn 
hy the controversy to the reforms advocated by Mr. 
Mann hastened their adoption. 

The assaults of the sectarians were more difficult to 
repel, because they were more vague. Mr. Mann was a 
Unitarian, and he was accused of causing the disappear- 
ance of religion and the religious spirit from the schools. 
Tho this appeal to religious prejudice was not successful 
and the attempt to secure the abolition of the State 
Board of Education failed, the controversies in which 
he had to engage wore Mr. Mann out and he resigned 
in 1849. But the controversies served to spread a knowl- 
edge of his reforms thruout the country and added 
greatly to his reputation.. He afterwards became pres- 
ident of Antioch College, Ohio, where he died in 1859. 

The Work of Henry Barnard (1811-1900).— So much 

351 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

was accomplished by Horace Mann during the twelve 
years of his secretaryship of the Massachusetts State 
Board of Education that the public school revival has 
become inseparably associated with his name, and the 
student is likely to forget that he was only the most 
striking figure among a number of men to whom the 
success of the movement was due. The man who was 
the literary and philosophic exponent of the movement, 
and who had a greater influence than Horace Mann in 
the United States outside New England, was Henry 
Barnard. Barnard came of a cultured Connecticut fam- 
ily, was a brilliant student at Yale, and traveled widely 
in Europe and America, familiarizing himself with so- 
cial and educational conditions wherever he went. The 
great work which Horace Mann accomplished for educa- 
tional reform in Massachusetts, Barnard accomplished 
for Connecticut, as its first state superintendent of 
schools, and for Rhode Island, as its first commissioner 
of schools. Moreover, largely as the result of the agita- 
tion he carried on for many years for the establish- 
ment of a federal agency for the collection and pub- 
lication of trustworthy information and statistics, the 
Bureau of Education at Washington was established 
in 1867 and Barnard was made its first commissioner. 
He organized the Bureau upon the lines along which it 
has ever since been administered, and tho compelled for 
political reasons to relinquish the position at the end of 
three years, he had already made searching investiga- 
tions into almost every phase of school legislation, or- 
ganization, instruction, and discipline. 

Barnard's Aiieiicai: Journai of Edacation. — But the 
splendid work of organization and administration ac- 
complished by Barnard was not his chief contribution 
to the spread of the movement in favor of public sys- 

352 



NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION 

terns and of reformed educational practices in the 
United States. Tho some reports of the great advances 
that had been made in Europe as the result of the work 
of Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Herbart, and Froebel had been 
published in the United States, they were desultory and 
fragmentary, and hence there was great need of a care- 
ful and systematic exposition of their principles and 
methods, if these were to influence the great mass of 
American teachers. Particularly was it necessary, now 
that Americans were becoming awakened to the need 
of a system of public schools supported and controlled 
by the state, that they be acquainted with the systems 
established in European countries, especially in Ger- 
many. This information was given in Barnard's Amer- 
ican Journal of Education, ' ' the most encyclopedic work 
on education in any tongue." To this monumental 
work Barnard devoted every spare hour of his time 
and his whole considerable fortune during an entire 
generation (1855-1881), and the thirty-one volumes of 
the Journal form a mine from which almost every Amer- 
ican writer on education has since dug jewels. The 
Journal contains exhaustive discussions on almost every 
conceivable educational topic. The professional train- 
ing of teachers, the education of delinquents and de- 
fectives, school architecture, the principles and practices 
of all the great educators from early times to contem- 
porary times are but a few of the important subjects con- 
sidered. The Journal stimulated the introduction of 
Pestalozzian methods, and gave the first adequate and 
influential description in America of the kindergarten 
(1856). In fact practically every reform introduced 
into American education down to 1880 owes much of 
its success to the support of Barnard's Journal, and as 
a source of information upon the development of ideals 

353 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

and systems in the various states of our country it is 
without a peer. 

Influence of the Eevival. — In New England. — As a re- 
sult of the awakening in New England, the indifference 
that had been the popular attitude towards the common 
school rapidly disappeared, and in no part of the country 
did affection for it as the people 's most cherished institu- 
tion become so deeply imbedded. Horace Mann and 
Henry Barnard had worthy successors in the boards of 
education of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Ehode 
Island, men who prosecuted their reforms with vigor 
and wisdom. The State boards were constantly given 
increased powers and used them to encourage action 
upon the part of the localities by means of inspection, 
supervision, and the distribution of state funds to 
improve buildings, equipment, and the status of teachers. 
By the close of this period (1876) the district system had 
been forced out of existence in a great many places, 
a very large number of the private academies had dis- 
appeared because of inability to compete with the pub- 
lic high school, and almost all of the large cities had 
provided for superintendents of schools. Maine, New 
Hampshire, and Vermont, because of sparseness of popu- 
lation and poverty of resources, introduced similar re- 
forms more slowly, but all had adopted a centralized 
administration of their schools by the close of the 
period. 

In the Middle States. — When Horace Mann began his 
great campaign in Massachusetts in 1837, New York was 
the most advanced state educationally in the country. 
As early as 1784 the state board of regents had been 
founded with the title "The University of the State of 
New York," to organize a system of public education 
above the elementary schools. And the Legislature 

354 



. NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION 

made frequent appropriations of money for distribution 
at first among those counties, and afterward among 
those townships which would contribute their share 
towards the support of elementary schools. In 1812 
a state superintendent was appointed, the first in the 
United States; and tho in 1820 for political reasons 
the office was combined with that of secretary of state, 
from that time much was done to centralize control 
and build up a public school system thruout the state. 
Nevertheless opposition prevailed in many of the local 
areas against local taxation for the support of common 
schools. The private academies were given public 
moneys by the state for the training of teachers; and 
altho New York City founded a public school system 
in 1842, the public schools had to compete with those 
of the Public School Society until 1853, when the So- 
ciety turned over its property to the city's board of 
education. That action is but one of several showing 
the influence of the revival in New York. In 1844 the 
first state normal school was opened at Albany; in 1854 
the state superintendent was again given a separate 
existence, and finally in 1867 elementary education was 
made entirely free thruout the state by the abolition 
of tuition fees. What was accomplished in New York 
is typical of what was done in the other middle states, 
only progress was more slow. In 1849 the "permis- 
sive" provision of the Pennsylvania state law, whereby 
a district could decide whether it would levy a local 
tax for the support of common schools and thereby 
share in the state school fund, was abolished and the 
law was made compulsory. In 1857 the state superin- 
tendent of schools was given an existence separate from 
the secretaryship of state, and provision was made for 
the establishment of normal schools. By the close of 

355 



THE HISTOEY OP EDUCATION 

the period (1876) Pennsylvania had a complete system 
of state public schools. This was also true of New 
Jersey. Delaware did not organize a complete state 
system until after the Civil War and did not estab- 
lish a state board with a state superintendent until 
1875. 

The Spread of Public School Systems in the West. — In 
Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois the history of the establish- 
ment of public school systems contains the same general 
features. In all three there was a struggle between the 
settlers in the southern portion of the states, who usually 
came from regions south of the Ohio, where free schools 
were considered to be only for paupers, and the settlers 
in the northern parts of the state, who came chiefly 
from New England and New York. In all three the 
campaign centered about the personality of some great 
enthusiast — Samuel Galloway in Ohio, Caleb Mills in 
Indiana, and Ninian W. Edwards in Illinois. < In all 
three the plan was the same, viz., to arouse public senti- 
ment in favor of common schools by holding common 
school conventions; to distribute pamphlets containing 
the facts concerning the illiteracy of the people and the 
wretched conditions of the schools; and to lobby at the 
state legislatures for good laws. In all three, despite 
the influence of local sectarian and vested interests, suc- 
cess was finally attained. The strength of the forces 
opposed to the principle of public support of free 
schools is illustrated in the referendum vote taken in 
1847 in Indiana, when 78,000 votes were cast in favor 
and 61,000 against. Even then the '* permissive * ' pro- 
vision of the law of 1849, passed to realize the principle, 
enabled one-third of the counties to neglect to organize 
schools; and private schools were enabled to share in 
the public funds at the discretion of the township trus- 

356 



NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION 

tees. But by the beginning of the Civil War the subsi- 
dizing of private schools with public moneys and the 
* ^ permissive ' ' provision in the state school laws had dis- 
appeared, and a complete system of public schools in all 
three states had been established. In Michigan, which 
was settled chiefly by New Englanders, progress was con- 
tinuous from the adoption of the first constitution in 
1837, which provided for a permanent school fund and 
for a local tax in every district. The very first legisla- 
ture established the University of Michigan, to which 
students were admitted in 1841. In all these states the 
organization of centralized supervision, the establish- 
ment of state normal schools, and the development of 
state universities had rounded out a complete state sys- 
tem of public education before the close of this period. 
The Public School Movement in the South. — The inter- 
est in the establishment of common school systems that 
swept over the East and the West after 1840 was not 
without influence in the South. An increasing num- 
ber of prominent men became interested in the 
movement and several conventions were held in dif- 
ferent states to advance it. "Permissive laws" and 
''literary funds" resulted in considerable progress 
towards developing a belief in the wisdom of 
a state system of schools, tho only in North Carolina 
was one actually established before the war. 
Unfortunately after 1850 public opinion was more 
and more concentrated upon the slavery question. The 
destruction of life and property during the war \vas a 
tremendous setback, and until Reconstruction was com- 
plete the fear of ''mixed" schools proved another great 
obstacle. Hence, tho the cause of education was much 
advanced in the South after the war by gifts from 
northern philanthropists and appropriations from Con- 

357 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

gress, and tho a belief in the need of a state system 
of schools for social reconstruction became quite wide- 
spread, that desideratum was not generally realized un- 
til weU into the next period. 

IV. Period of Educational Expansion 

After the Civil War, and particularly after Recon- 
struction, the extension of systems of free, public, state- 
supported, and state-controlled education was very rapid. 
In the newer western states sectarian jealousy and the 
conception of free public education as fit only for those 
who could not pay tuition fees never appeared, and the 
first constitution of each of those states provided for a 
complete system of free public education extending from 
the elementary school to and including the university. 
In the South by the close of the nineteenth century there 
existed in every commonwealth a state system of schools. 
And in the North and East the principles of unification 
and centralization had everywhere won out. The victory 
for centralized state control was due to a great many 
causes, but chief among them were the following: (1) 
the appropriation by the federal government of millions 
of acres of lands directly to the states for the support 
of elementary schools and of higher institutions for agri- 
cultural and technical education; (2) the distribution 
of state moneys by the state educational departments to 
the local geographical areas upon condition that the lat- 
ter would meet requirements laid down by the former; 
(3) the unifying and standardizing influence of the 
state university, into whose hands the control of sec- 
ondary education has in some states been placed; (4) 
the growing faith of the American people in public edu- 
cation as the agency for solving the political, social, and 

358 



NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION 

economic problems which confront them; hence thje 
necessity that it should be centralized in order to be 
efficient. 

The evolution that has been traced in this chapter 
has resulted in an American system^of education whose 
organization can be described with brevity. The federal 
constitution makes no mention of education, that being 
an activity which was left to the states in the partition 
of powers when the Constitution was adopted in 1788. 
The Federal Bureau of Education exists merely to col- 
lect and disseminate information upon education and 
it wields a very great influence in that way. Each 
state has an independent system of education, but in 
outline and characteristics they are all the same. In 
all of them there is a complete system of elementary 
schools, in which education is free, universal, and com- 
pulsory for seven or eight years. In most of them there 
is provision for free public secondary education, altho 
only in a few is the locality compelled to maintain high 
schools for all the children of proper age in the com- 
munity. In all except some of the older commonwealths 
of the East there exists a state university wherein free 
higher education is offered to the young men and women 
of the state. America has not yet realized the ideal of ^ 
equal opportunity for all in its economic, industrial, anT 
social life. But it has applied it in education ; for there 
exists an educational ladder from the kindergarten to 
the university. In some states a few rungs are still 
missing, but they are rapidly being supplied. In most 
the organization is complete ; and attention is now given 
to other aspects of the educational problem, such as the 
better training of teachers, the improvement and en- 
richment of the curriculum, and the further extension of 
educational facilities. -^ 

359 



/I 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

6EEMANY 

Germany, like the United States, is a national state 
made up of individual states, each of which is inde- 
pendent in the control of its internal affairs. There is 
no national system of education. The Prussian system 
differs in a number of respects from those of the other 
large states, yet it is sufficiently typical to enable the 
student by a study of it to acquire a good idea of Ger- 
man education. 

Refonns of Frederick the Great. — Tho education in 
Prussia remained under ecclesiastical control during 
the greater part of the eighteenth century, it was there 
that the conception of education as the necessary basis 
for social well-being and political power first received 
acceptance. As early as 1717 Frederick William I is- 
sued a decree to the effect that, wherever schools did 
exist, children should be required to attend daily in 
winter, and when they could be spared from home in 
summer, which must be at least once a week. The king 
also contributed liberally from state funds towards the 
establishment of rural schools, and finding the chief 
difficulty to be a lack of intelligent teachers, established 
the first teachers' training school at Stettin. The sig- 
nificant thing about his activities is that he Eissumed it 
to be the business of the state to provide for elementary 
education, instead of leaving it to local and ecclesiastical 
authorities. 

But it was Frederick "William's son, Frederick the 
Great (r. 1740-1786), who laid the real foundation of 
the Prussian state system of elementary education. 
Frederick was the most tolerant, broad-minded, and hu- 
mane of the enlightened despots who flourished in Eu- 
rope during the second half of the eighteenth century. 

360 



NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION 

He made many economic and social reforms looking 
towards the advancement of the welfare of the whole 
people, and showed an especial interest in educational 
reform. He centralized and improved secondary educa- 
tion, encouraged academic freedom, promoted research, 
and established an Academy of Sciences in Berlin. But 
his great contribution to the cause of public education 
was made in his General School Regulations of 1763. 
Among the most important provisions were the follow- 
ing: (1) all children were required to attend school 
from five to thirteen or fourteen; (2) if a child could, 
before thirteen, pass the state tests in the elementary 
branches imposed by the local school authority (the con- 
sistory), he might leave school — but only upon receiv- 
ing a certificate of dismissal signed by the local teacher, 
preacher, and inspector; (3) no one was permitted to 
teach in a school unless examined and licensed by the 
local inspector and preacher; (4) a Sunday continua- 
tion school was to be maintained by the schoolmaster 
for unmarried young people beyond school age. 

These regulations met with strenuous opposition. The 
peasants objected to the absence of their children from 
work. Many teachers were opposed because they could 
not meet the new eligibility requirements. The upper 
classes disliked them as likely to result in the spread of 
discontent among the peasantry. The clergy were not 
enthusiastic in enforcing a law which emphasized state 
control. Hence, tho Frederick strove vigorously to up- 
hold the law, it could not be enforced everywhere. 
Nevertheless the General School Regulations of 1763 
were the real foundation of the present Prussian system. 

rrom Frederick the Great to Napoleon. — Frederick's 
code, however, left the administration of the schools 
in the hands of the clergy. His enthusiastic educational 

361 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

adviser, Baron von Zedlitz, was able to take another 
step in advance the year after Frederick's death, 1787, 
viz., to secure the establishment of the Oherschulkol- 
legium. This was a central board of school administra- 
tion, to replace the local church consistories, and Zed- 
litz intended to have its membership composed of lay 
educational experts having a permanent tenure. But 
the new king, Frederick William II, was reactionary 
and appointed clergymen chiefly, and also refused to 
extend the jurisdiction of the body to higher schools. 
Nevertheless the establishment of the Oherschulkolr- 
legium represents the transition from church adminis- 
tration of schools under state direction to expert state 
administration by a central board. 

A far more important step was made in 1794. Fred- 
erick the Great had appointed a number of eminent 
scholars and jurists to codify the Prussian law, and in 
1794 the General Code was adopted. The twelfth chap- 
ter of the code was devoted to education, and in it the 
supremacy of the state was unequivocally asserted. It 
declared that ''all schools and universities are state 
institutions, which may be founded only with the knowl- 
edge and consent of the state ; they are under the super- 
vision of the state and are at all times subject to its ex- 
amination and inspection,'' Provision was made for 
compulsory school attendance and for state appoint- 
ment of teachers. But the schools were secularized with- 
out eliminating religious instruction, for the code recog- 
nized the equal rights of the Lutheran and Catholic 
churches to give instruction in the schools to the chil- 
dren of their adherents. 

The Keform Adopted after Jena, 1806. — The twenty 
years between the death of Frederick the Great and the 
battle of Jena, which destroyed the power of Prussia, 

362 



NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION 

were years of decline in power and influence, due to the 
corruption of the government, the selfishness of the 
nobility, and the oppression of the common people. 
Prussia received a rude awakening at Jena, and her 
rulers determined to put their house in order. The 
army was reorganized, and the civil administration 
purged of corrupt favorites. But the great leaders who 
surrounded the king undei^tood that their chief reli- 
ance must be upon a new education aiming to produce 
intelligent, patriotic Germans. The Oherschulkollegium 
was abolished, to get rid of clerical domination, and a 
''Bureau of Religion and Public Education'^ created as 
a section of the Department of the Interior. Wilhelm 
von Humboldt was placed in charge, and he and his 
immediate successor introduced far-reaching reforms, 
which made the state system a reality. These reforms, 
moreover, affected every branch of education, elemen- 
tary, secondary, and higher. In 1809 the University of 
Berlin was founded, to which some of the most eminent 
scholars in Germany were invited as teachers, and they 
stamped it at once with the character which it has ever 
since maintained, as a great research institution. In 
1812 all classical schools of whatever name were ordered 
henceforth to be called Gymnasien, provided they met 
the standard of attainment set by the government ; and 
the ' ' leaving examination, ' ' given by such schools in the 
presence of a state commissioner, was made the basis of 
determining admission to university work, and thus a 
preliminary step to many positions in the civil service. 
Moreover, a new course of study was adopted which 
pleased the adherents of the new humanism by empha- 
sizing the importance of Greek, and the adherents of 
formal discipline by giving more time to mathematics. 
In order to secure competent teachers for the Gym- 

363 



THE HISTORY OP EDUCATION 

nasien, seminars were established in all the Prussian 
universities and searching examinations in scholarship 
introduced, which raised teaching in the secondary 
school to a profession. In elementary education great 
improvements were made in method, content, and spirit 
by the introduction of Pestalozzian teachers and the es- 
tablishment of training schools for teachers. In 1817 
the Bureau of Education was erected into an independent 
ministry ; and in 1825 the organization of the state sys- 
tem of education was completed by the establishment of 
provincial school boards, responsible to the ministry of 
education, which were ultimately to displace the church 
consistories in control of local education. The schools 
were thereby finally separated from Church control and 
full state control was accomplished. However, many of 
the members of the school boards of the lower adminis- 
trative areas into which the province is divided, viz., 
''governments" and "districts," are clergymen and 
they are the local inspectors of elementary schools. 
Many Prussian educators look forward to the elimina- 
tion of these as the last necessary step in the complete 
removal of ecclesiastical influence from the schools. 

The Period of Keaction, 1818-1872.— Every school reg- 
ulation that has been made by the Prussian govern- 
ment since the establishment of the Ministry of Educa- 
tion in 1817 has been consistently in accord with state 
control of education. In almost every other respect, 
however, the period extending from that date to the 
Franco-Prussian "War was one of reaction. Johannes 
Schulze, who was chairman of the government council 
for secondary education from 1818-1840, made the work 
and discipline of the Gymnasium very severe; he set 
the attainment of the best as the standard for all. The 
tendency — due to political motives — was to crush out 

364 



NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION 

everything that pointed to freedom and individual in- 
itiative in education, such as would result from Pesta- 
lozzian idealism in elementary education ; even the over- 
sight of the actions and private reading of the pupils 
outside of school hours was very strict. The adherents 
of formal discipline were in control in the secondary 
schools; Latin was given additional time, and in the 
teaching of Latin form was emphasized rather than con- 
tent. History, geography, and science were reduced a 
fifth in time. No attention was paid to the practical 
needs of the German people. The darkest period was 
after the Revolution of 1848, when kindergartens were 
prohibited as revolutionary institutions and liberal uni- 
versity professors subjected to a system of espionage. 

The Period of Intense Nationalism (1872-). — Even 
during the preceding period the claims of the 
BeaZschulen for recognition as equal in standing to the 
Gymnusien and as better meeting the demands of mod- 
ern life in Germany could not be set aside. In 1859 the 
Bealschulen were divided into two classes ; the one with 
a nine-year course, including Latin in the curriculum, 
was given full standing as a secondary school, and from 
1870 its graduates were admitted to the universities to 
study science and modern subjects; the other, with a 
six-year course and optional Latin, admits only to the 
one-year ''voluntary" military service (as a substitute 
for the obligatory two years required of those who 
attend only elementary schools). But after 1871 Ger- 
many became more and more industrialized and the 
need of scientific and technical education became more 
pronounced. Moreover, the intense spirit of national- 
ism aroused by the success of the War of 1870 made in- 
sistent demands for the emphasizing of German culture 
and the liberalizing of secondary education to meet the 

365 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

needs of the new national life. At the celebrated Berlin 
School Conference of 1890, the present emperor stated 
the new view admirably. ' ' First of all, a national basis 
is wanting in the Gymtuisien. Their foundation must 
be German. It is our duty to educate men to become 
young Germans and not young Greeks and Romans. 
Hence we must make German the basis around which 
everything else revolves. ' ' In deference to the demands 
of the reformers, the first class of Bealschulen described 
above were, in 1882, designated Bealgymnasien, and 
some schools which had developed under the Depart- 
ment of Commerce as trade schools extended their work 
to nine years, were transferred to the Ministry of Edu- 
cation, and became known as Oberrealschulen. Since 
1901 the graduates of all three secondary schools, Gym- 
nashc^n, Realgymnasium, and Oherrealschule, are ad- 
mitted on equal terms to university courses, except that 
students of divinity must have completed a Gymnasium 
course, in order to be acquainted with Greek, and stu- 
dents of medicine must have completed either a Gym- 
nasium or Realgymnasium course, in order to be famil- 
iar with Latin. 

As a result of this century of evolution there has 
developed in Prussia, and in other German states, a 
nationalized school system organized with a view to its 
being the principal support of the state. To uphold 
the government, to preserve the national culture, and 
to satisfy the needs of the new industrial life are the 
aims. Whatever a foreigner may think of the German 
system of education, it is the natural outgrowth of 
spiritual ideals and of the social changes that have 
taken place. The Germans firmly believe in it. 

German Elementary Education. — There is no educa- 
tional ladder in Germany such as exists in the United 

366 



NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION 

States. Public elementary education, which is free, 
universal and compulsory, is given in the Volkschulen 
(people's schools). The course is eight years in length, 
ending at fourteen, and does not lead to any of the sec- 
ondary schools. The students in a secondary school 
commence their course at nine years of age and continue 
for nine years. Upon entrance they begin to study a 
foreign language, Latin in the Gymnasium and Eeal- 
gymnasium, French in the Bealschule. Moreover, at 
fourteen, when a boy in the Volkschule has completed 
his course, the boy in the secondary school will have 
begun a second language and advanced to higher mathe- 
matics. As neither foreign languages nor mathematics 
beyond arithmetic are taught in the Volkschulen, it is 
impossible for a graduate of the latter school to fit into 
any secondary school even if he could afford to pay 
the necessary tuition fees. The preliminary instruction 
necessary for entrance to the secondary school ordi- 
narily is obtained either from private tutors or in the 
Vorschulen (preparatory schools), tho a considerable 
number of pupils do go to the Volkschule for three 
years and then change over to a Gymnasium or a Beal- 
schule. The only thing for a graduate of a Volkschule 
to do is to go to work and attend the ForthUdungschulen 
(continuation schools) and become skilled in the trade 
or vocation which he has entered. The Volkschulen, in 
other words, are intended for the children of the masses, 
who are destined for mechanical pursuits. The second- 
ary schools are organized for the children of the wealthy 
classes, who look forward to the professions and higher 
civil service. It is in part, however, an aristocracy of 
brains, for the liberal remission of fees, and the special 
funds for the help of indigent pupils in some schools 
enable many boys who show noteworthy ability but 

367 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

4 

whose parents are poor to enjoy the full advantages of 
a secondary education on a par with the wealthy. For 
the middle classes who cannot afford to send their chil- 
dren thru a secondary school, but who for social rea- 
sons do not want them to go to a Volkschule, there have 
grown up Mittelschulen (middle schools), which charge 
a fee, have a course of nine or ten years, and teach a 
foreign language in the last three years. The great 
efficiency of the Germai^ Volkschule is due in part to 
the professionally trained teachers who are certificated 
hy the state and hold permanent positions. But the 
splendid percentage of attendance at school and the 
length of the school year — which is seldom less than two 
hundred and thirty days — combine to give a situation 
very favorable for good work. 

German Secondary Education. — A fair idea of German 
secondary education may be secured from the diagram 
on the following page. In all three institutions of second- 
ary education the course of study covers nine years, and 
the graduates of each are admitted upon equal terms to 
university courses except that, as already mentioned, ma- 
triculants in theology must be graduates of the Gymyia- 
sium, and matriculants in medicine must be graduates 
either of the Gymnasium or Realgym/nasium. In small 
cities and in rural districts, institutions are found which 
give but six of the nine years of the course. These are 
called ProgymnasieUy Bealprogymndsien, and Realr- 
schulen; their existence is largely due to the require- 
ment of at least six years ' residence in a secondary school 
to be permitted one year 's voluntary service in the army 
instead of two years' conscript service. 

The difference between these three kinds of secondary 
schools is chiefly one of curriculum, for in organization, 
administration, discipline and methods of teaching they 

368 



NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION 

are alike. The Gymnasium , the classical school, has as 
its fundamental studies Latin and Greek and is the 
stronghold of the adherents of formal discipline. It is 
attended chiefly by the sons of the aristocracy and pro- 



Real- Ober- 
Gymna- gymna- real- 
sium sium schule 
Number of Week-houra in Nine Years 



-% 



German 26 

Latin 68 

Greek 36 

French 20* 

English 

History 17 

Geography. . . 9 
Mathematics. 34 

Science 18 

Writing 4 

Drawing 8 

Religion ..... 19 

Gymnastics . . 27 

Singing | ^g 



28 
49 

29 
18 
17 
11 
42 
29 
4 
16 



341 



47 
25 
18 
14 
47 
36 
6 
16 



19 


19 


27 


27 


4 


4 


18 


18 



Drawing. . . , 

Hebrew 

English 

Geometrical 
drawing . . 



8 
6 
6* 



10 



10 J 




* Interchangeable. 

In some schools one-half the Greek may be omitted and Eng- 
lish, French, and mathematics taken in place. 

Additional writing is required of those whose penmanship is 
deficient. 

After the second year singing is required only of those who are 
gifted vocally. 



fessional classes, and graduation from it carries social 
prestige which is highly valued. The Realgymnasmm, 
the Latin-scientific school, has Latin in every year, but 
no Greek, the place of the latter being taken by French 
and English, and more attention is given to science and 

369 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

mathematics. The Oherrealschule, the scientific school, 
eliminates classics entirely, substituting French and 
English, and devotes much more time than either of the 
other two to mathematics and science. The social posi- 
tion of those who attend the Realgymnasien and Oher- 
realschulen is not considered so good as of those who 
attend the Oymnasien. They are usually the sons of 
the commercial and manufacturing classes. 

It is evident that the difference in the curricula of 
these three institutions forces a German parent to choose 
the life work of his son at the early age of nine, usually 
before he has given any indication of his special apti- 
tudes. A boy who once enters the Bealschule cannot 
later transfer to the Gymnasium, because Latin begins 
in the first year of the Gym^nasium. And he cannot 
transfer from the Realgymnasium to the Gymnasium 
after the third year because he will not have had Greek. 
To overcome this difficulty there was tried out, first at 
Altona in 1878 and after 1892 at Frankfort and else- 
where, the plan of grouping all three courses in one 
school and making the courses the same for the first 
three years. The plan was so successful that the Be- 
formsckulen, as these institutions are called, have been 
growing rapidly in numbers. Tho the curricula of 
all the Beformschulen are not identical, French instead 
of Latin is usually the only foreign language taught in 
the first three years. At the beginning of the fourth 
year the course divides, one section taking up Latin, 
the other English. At the end of another two years, 
the Latin section again divides into two, one taking up 
Greek, the other English. The aim is to arrive at re- 
sults as good as those attained in the regular schools, 
and the adherents of the plan claim that the actual re- 
sults show an education fully on a par with that of the 

370 



NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION 

old-type institution, in Latin and Greek as well as in 
the other studies. 

One other criticism of German secondary education, 
formerly directed against the attitude maintained to- 
wards the education of girls, no longer holds true. Co- 
education does not exist in Germany, except in the ele- 
mentary school. Hence there were gradually established 
during the past four decades Hohere Mddchenschulen 
(higher girls' schools), to give higher education to 
girls. As a result of the reorganization of these schools 
which took place in 1908, a Prussian girl has now facili- 
ties for secondary education practically equal to those 
for boys. There are five types of secondary schools for 
girls. The Gymnasien, Eealgymnasien and Oherreal- 
schulen are similar to boys' schools of like name, but 
prepare for university entrance in ten years instead of 
nine. The Frauenschulen, from which a girl normally 
graduates at eighteen, prepare for domestic life and offer 
a wide range of courses in domestic arts, domestic sci- 
ence, and household economics, in addition to the sub- 
stantial prescribed work in the ordinary secondary sub- 
jects. The Seminar (normal schools), from which a girl 
normally graduates at twenty, prepare teachers for the 
elementary schools and for the lower classes of the 
secondary schools. Not all the universities of Germany 
are open to women, and tho some universities have 
opened their doors to women for a long time they ad- 
mitted them upon sufferance rather than as a right. 

German Higher Education. — The German university is 
either a state institution or must receive the approval of 
the state for its establishment. Tho it charges fees, 
it is supported chiefly by the state and controlled largely 
by decrees of the minister of education. He also ap- 
points the professors, usually, however, giving heed to 

371 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

the recommendations of the faculty ; and the professors 
are considered civil servants with certain definite privi- 
leges. The internal administration of the university is 
in the hands of the university senate, which is composed 
of representatives of the various faculties, and the rec- 
tor, who is elected annually by the professors of full 
grade, with the approval of the minister of education. 
Tradition maintains the organization of the teaching 
staff into the four faculties of law, medicine, theology 
and philosophy, most of the new subjects in science, soci- 
ology, and literature being placed in the faculty of 
philosophy. Lernfreiheit (freedom of learning, i. e., 
of election) exists fully in the Germany university. 
Lehrfreiheit (freedom of teaching, i. e., academic free- 
dom) has fairly well characterized it, except in the the- 
ological faculties. During the past generation there 
have grown up alongside the regular universities, insti- 
tutions, which, tho called Tech7iische Hochschulen 
(technical high schools), are really of university rank. 
They conduct the fine technical education in engineer- 
ing, mining, commerce, agriculture, and forestry for 
which Germany is deservedly renowned. 

FRANCE 

The Early Nineteenth Century. — Despite the agitation 
of rationalists and naturalists in favor of secular and 
state-controlled education in the latter part of the eight- 
eenth century, French education had a religious purpose 
and was administered by the clergy practically down to 
the eve of the Eevolution of 1789. The National Con- 
vention between the years 1792 and 1795 secularized and 
confiscated the church schools, and gave attention to 
a great number of reports and bills looking to the estab- 

372 



NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION 

lishment of a national and lay system of education. But 
that desideratum remained little more than a cherished 
hope, for with the exception of the establishment of the 
Normal School and the Polytechnic School at Paris in 
1793, comparatively little was accomplished. Napoleon 
reorganized secondary and higher education, abolished 
the autonomy of the old universities, most of which had 
become moribund, an'd changed them, with the excep- 
tion of Paris, to mere groups of faculties whose chief 
work was the granting of degrees. Then in 1806 he 
united all secondary and higher institutions into one 
corporate body controlled by the state and denominated 
''The University of France." For the better adminis- 
tration of the University, he divided the country into 
administrative "academies," each with a rector and an 
academic council, having supervision over the educa- 
tional work of the ' ' academy. ' ' This centralized system 
remained practically unchanged till 1875. 

Guizot's Law, 1833. — Napoleon did nothing, however, 
to reorganize elementary education. The Church was 
permitted again to assume control of it and special favor 
was shown to the Christian Brothers, whose schools 
had been suppressed in 1792. This policy, moreover, 
was continued during the Restoration, and the revolu- 
tion of 1830 found elementary education almost entirely 
under the control of the teaching congregations. The 
status of the lycees and communal colleges remained 
unchanged. Fortunately the first minister of public 
instruction under the July monarchy was M. Guizot, 
who rendered the cause of education a magnificent serv- 
ice. He immediately attempted to create a public opin- 
ion favorable to the establishment of a real system of 
popular education, and the Law of 1833, the passage of 
which he secured, is the foundation of the French na- 

373 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

tional system of education. This law established a sys- 
tem of elementary schools of two grades, primary and 
higher primary, the former to be established in every 
commune and the latter in large communes. Tho they 
were to be supported partly by fees, they were to receive 
grants from the communes and the state, and were to 
admit gratis the children of the poor. Moreover, the 
certification and appointment of teachers were reserved 
to the state, and provision was made for freedom in 
religious instruction. Under this law there was a re- 
markable increase in the number of primary schools, of 
pupils enrolled, and money expended for elementary 
education. Moreover, to secure the necessary supply of 
teachers, some thirty normal schools were established. 
Unfortunately the desire on the part of the Second Em- 
pire to secure the support of the Church resulted in an 
attitude unfriendly to the extension of state primary 
schools and favorable to the establishment of religious 
primary schools. Hence when the empire fell in 1870, 
tho considerable advance had been made in public 
elementary education, there had been a retrogression in 
the realization of the idea of a national system of educa- 
tion supported and controlled by the state. 

The Third Republic (1871-).— The Republican lead- 
ers, led by Gambetta, determined to lay the founda- 
tions of the Republic upon a basis of universal educa- 
tion. In the decade 1871-1881 many millions of francs 
were spent in school buildings and equipment and in 
the establishment of manual and technical schools. In 
1881, schools having been established in practically every 
commune, primary instruction was made free, and in 
1882 compulsory, between the ages of six and thirteen. 
To provide the teachers necessary for this great increase 
in schools, every depart ement (county) was required to 

374 



NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION 

provide a normal school for teachers of each sex. To 
make the schools secular was a harder undertaking and 
became one of the burning questions in French politics 
during the next generation. In 1881 all teachers were 
required to hold a state certificate. In 1886 clergymen 
were forbidden employment as teachers in the public 
schools. Finally, by the laws of 1902 and 1904, all cleri- 
cal schools were closed. The state, therefore, in France 
has almost a monopoly of elementary education. There 
are some free schools, i. e., non-state schools, but they 
must be taught by laymen. As a result of all the edu- 
cational statutes passed since the beginning of the Third 
Eepublic, France has the most completely centralized 
S3^stem of state-controlled and state-supported schools in 
western Europe. 

French Elementary Education. — The French child of 
three can enter an ecole matemelle, or mother's school, 
as the institution similar to the kindergarten is called, 
and remain there until he passes into the ecole prinia/ire 
(primary school) at six. The primary school course is 
by law compulsory to thirteen, but the law is not faith- 
fully observed and many children leave at twelve and 
some even at eleven. Above the primary school is the 
ecole primaire stiperieure (higher primary school), the 
course in which is generally three years and devoted to 
more practical work, usually of a vocational nature. 
There are also continuation schools, supported by the 
various conmiunes and subsidized by the state, for agri- 
cultural and industrial education. Most of the elemen- 
tary schools are either boys ' schools or girls ' schools, co- 
education existing usually only where it cannot be 
avoided. 

French Secondary Education. — Secondary education in 
France is given either in the lycees, which are national 

375 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

schools supported partly by fees but chiefly by the state, 
or the colleges communa^x (communal colleges), which 
are local schools maintained partly by fees but chiefly 
by the commune with some aid from the state. The 
communal colleges, tho providing similar courses, have 
not the same social standing as the lycees and their pro- 
fessors need not meet such high requirements for ap- 
pointment. As in Prussia, neither of these institutions 
fits upon the primary schools, tho boys may transfer 
from the primary school at ten, when the course of the 
lyoee and communal college usually begins. The follow- 
ing diagram will give some idea of the organization and 
curriculum of the French secondary school: 



Lycee 

7 years or Forms 



First Cycle 
10-14 



I Course A — Classical 
1 Course B — Scientific 



Second Cycle 
I. 14-16 



II. 16-17 



Section A- 
Section B- 

Section C- 
Section D- 



-Greco-Latin 

-Latin-Modem Lan- 
guage 

-Latin-Scientific 

-Scientific-Modern 
Language 



Mathematical — Emphasis upon 
Science 

Philosophical — Emphasis upon 
the literary and 
social humani- 
ties 



The boy enters the lycee or the communal college 
usually at ten and elects at once whether he will spend 
the first ''cycle" of four years pursuing classics or sci- 
ence. At fifteen he enters the second ''cycle" and, no 
matter which course he pursued in the previous years, 
he may now elect any one of the four courses into which 
the second ' ' cycle ' ' is divided ; if he changes from Greek 
to a modern language course, or vice versa, opportunity 

376 



NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION 

is given him to make up the language in which he is 
deficient, without loss of time. The last year is spent in 
either the philosophical or the mathematical faculty, 
i. e., in specialization either in the humanities or in sci- 
ence. This choice also is unrestricted by the course 
pursued to that point. The completion is crowned by a 
difficult state examination and the baccalaureate degree, 
which is highly prized as it is necessary for entrance to 
the university or the professions. 

Secondary education for girls hardly existed in 
France before 1880, when the law creating lycees and 
colleges for women was adopted. Up to that year girls 
received their education chiefly in convents and private 
schools, but since then there has been a steady increase 
in the number of public secondary schools for girls. The 
course in the girls' lycee is but five years in length, 
there being no classics in the curriculum and only ele- 
mentary mathematics and science. The places of these 
subjects are partly taken by courses in hygiene, draw- 
ing, music, and domestic economy. The teachers are 
nearly all women. As in the case of boys, a special 
higher normal school has been established to prepare 
teachers for girls' lycees. 

French Higher Education. — The old universities, which 
had come down from the Middle Ages, were in such a 
moribund state at the opening of the nineteenth century 
tliat Napoleon destroyed their autonomous existence 
when he created the University of France in 1806. The 
''academies" into which he divided the country were 
each to have university faculties of letters and science 
near or at the principal lycees, and their chief function 
was to examine for the higher licenses. The result of 
this action was to reduce French higher education to 
a low estate during the greater part of the nineteenth 

377 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

century, for practically no change in the status of the 
faculties took place until 1885. Then a law was passed 
to permit them to organize a governing council, to co- 
ordinate the different courses, and to hold property as 
a corporation. It was not until 1896, however, that a 
complete reorganization of higher education took place. 
In that year the title of university was restored, and a 
university was established in each of the sixteen acad- 
emies except one. As yet only eight of these are com- 
plete universities, that is, have all four faculties of law, 
medicine, science, and letters, tho all have the facul- 
ties of letters and science. The professors are appointed 
by the minister of public instruction upon nomination 
by the members of the faculty, and receive their salaries 
from the state. Each faculty has a dean, and the rector 
of the university forms, with the deans and other elected 
representatives of each faculty, the university council, 
which is the governing body. All universities are open 
equally to men and women, and admit foreign students. 
In addition to the universities, there are numerous tech- 
nical and professional schools offering higher educa- 
tion. 

As already stated, France has the most completely 
centralized system of education in western Europe. At 
the head of the entire system is the ''minister of public 
instruction and fine arts." He is assisted by three 
directors, one each for superior, secondary, and primary 
education. At the head of each of the academies into 
which the country is divided, is a rector assisted by an 
*' academic council"; he has authority over all three 
fields of education in the academy, except as to the 
appointment of teachers. This is done by the prefect 
of the depart ement ; and as he is a political appointee, 
this power has had the evil effect of bringing the schools 

378 



NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION 

into politics. The efficiency of the entire system is made 
secure by the maintenance of a complete corps of state, 
academy, and district inspectors, assisted by local school 
committees. In no other country does the centralized 
administration of the state loom so large in education. 
It appoints the teachers, fixes the salaries, maintains 
the pension system, controls the curriculum and methods 
of teaching, and supervises private instruction. 

ENGLAND 

The Early Nineteenth Century. — We saw in Chapter 
XVI that England, more than any other great state of 
western Europe, delayed the organization of a public 
school system and relied upon philanthropy to do the 
work of the state in education. This was chiefly due to 
the belief that education was not a function of the state 
but should be supervised by the Church, and to the hesi- 
tancy of the governing classes in permitting the educa- 
tion of the masses. It required three decades of agita- 
tion on the part of a group of reformers before the 
government took the first step towards state support of 
elementary schools. That step was one of the fruits of 
the Reform Bill of 1832. In 1833 a parliamentary grant 
of £20,000 a year was made, to be distributed thru 
the two religious educational societies, the National So- 
ciety and the British and Foreign Society, for the sole 
purpose of aiding in building schoolhouses for wbich 
subscriptions had already been collected. From that 
time until the Act of 1870, the two societies remained 
the media for the distribution of the state grants and 
thereby acquired a vested interest which greatly ham- 
pered the development of a state system, the National 
Society, representing the Established Church, being 

379 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

particularly opposed to it. But the reformers main-^ 
tained an incessant agitation, founding public school 
societies thruout the country, and compelling the 
government to take more and more decisive steps in the 
direction of a state system of schools. In 1839 the 
annual grant was increased to £30,000 and a special 
committee of the Privy Council on education established. 
This resulted in a step towards state control, for the 
new committee insisted that, in order to share in the 
funds, a school must be open to government inspection. 
During the next thirty years a number of parliamen- 
tary committees were appointed to investigate the con- 
dition of popular education, and in almost every case an 
investigation was followed by increased governmental 
interest and control. One action, adopted in 1861, and 
having the good intention of increasing the efficiency of 
the schools, introduced a principle that had unfortunate 
consequences, viz., ''pajrment by results." According^ 
to this principle, the grant of state funds to a school 
depended upon the results shown by its pupils in the 
governmental examinations. This provision, which has 
only recently been abandoned, had the effect of formal- 
izing instruction, as the schools naturally worked almost 
solely towards the examinations. 

The Elementary Education Act of 1870. — Finally in 
1870, largely as the result of the great extension of the 
franchise in 1868, Parliament passed a bill by means of 
which a system of elementary schools was established, to 
be organized, supported, and controlled by the state. 
The bill provided that, wherever there was a deficiency 
in school accommodations, the voters of the community 
might elect a school board to maintain an elementary 
school. These ** board" schools were to be supported 
partly by local rates (taxes), which must equal the 

380 



NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION 

government grant. The '* voluntary ' ' schools, i. e., the 
church schools, were to share in the government grant 
but not in the local rates; and the government grants 
to all schools were to depend upon the reports of the 
government inspectors. The board schools were per- 
mitted to give only undenominational religious instruc- 
tion, and all schools were required to put religious in- 
struction either at the beginning or the end of the school 
session in order that a pupil might take advantage of 
the ''conscience clause" of the act, according to which 
any pupil might withdraw whose parents objected to 
the kind of religious instruction given. This splendid 
law, which finally gave England a real basis for a na- 
tional system of education, had nevertheless an almost 
fatal defect, i. e., the compromise which permitted the 
sectarian voluntary schools to receive government aid. 
It was inevitable that the competition between the two 
kinds of schools would result in bitterness, a bitterness 
the intensity of which it is hard for Americans to under- 
stand. During the next generation both kinds of schools 
were greatly improved by various parliamentary acts, 
and elementary education was made wholly free, and 
compulsory up to thirteen. A great step in the direc- 
tion of a real national system was taken in 1899, when a 
central board of education was established to take over 
the powers of all official bodies that had hitherto shared 
in the control of elementary education. The privilege 
of local rates which the board schools enjoyed enabled 
them to make phenomenal progress. By 1902 they had 
as many pupils as the voluntary schools, and more and 
better teachers, and were able to spend a greater amount 
of money per pupil. This progress was bitterly envied 
by the Established Church, and in return for its sup- 
port in the parliamentary election of 1895 the Conserva- 

381 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

tive party promised to provide better maintenance for 
the voluntary schools. 

The Education Act of 1902.— In 1902 the Conserva- 
tives were able to push thru Parliament an act 
whereby the voluntary schools were permitted to share 
the local school rates with the board schools. All schools 
were made part of one comprehensive system, and the 
administration of all schools was centralized in the 
county councils for rural districts and in the munici- 
pal borough councils for cities. But the immediate su- 
pervision of the individual schools was placed in a local 
board of managers, which in the case of the voluntary 
schools was to consist of two members appointed by the 
council and four selected by the denomination. The 
new system thus favored the Established Church, but 
it had the go6d effect of placing all elementary schools 
under the administration of public officials^ the coun- 
cils, with the National Board of Education in general 
control. Another excellent provision was that which 
required the councils to support instruction in subjects 
beyond the elementary grade. This gave an impetus to 
the establishment of secondary schools under public 
control and support. Nevertheless, the Act of 1902 
aroused intense resentment among the nonconformists, 
and it was one of the great issues in the political cam- 
paign of 1905. When the Liberals were returned to 
power, they at once passed thru the House of Com- 
mons a bill which would remedy the defect in the Act 
of 1902 by bringing all schools under the complete con- 
trol of the public authorities. The bill, however, was 
rejected by the House of Lords and elementary educa- 
tion in England is today organized under the provisions 
of the Act of 1902. It is generally admitted, however, 
that the condition is an anomalous and temporary one 

382 



NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION 

which will probably be remedied by legislation in the 
near future. 

English Elementary Education. — The elementary edu- 
cation of an English child may begin at the age of five 
in the infant school. He may remain there until eight, 
engaged in activities similar to those of the kindergar- 
ten, and learning also the rudiments of reading, writing, 
and counting. Compulsory attendance is required 
everywhere in England under twelve, and local school 
boards are permitted to raise the age limit to fourteen. 
Unfortunately provision is made for partial exemption 
from school attendance after eleven for children engaged 
in agriculture and after twelve for children engaged in 
industry. There is a strong protest, however, against 
the existence of ' ' half-timers, ' ' and it is hoped the prac- 
tice will soon pass away. Before the Act of 1902 higher 
grade board schools were established in many of the 
larger cities, which competed with the endowed ''pub- 
lic" and "grammar" schools and private schools in the 
field of secondary education. But in 1900 the Court of 
Appeals handed down the "Cockerton Judgment," for- 
bidding the use of local rates for other instruction than 
^ elementary, and the Board of Education thereupon 
passed a regulation making fifteen the upper age limit 
for pupils in these higher elementary schools. These 
schools, therefore, continue to exist with a three-year 
curriculum, intended for children between twelve and 
fifteen, which emphasizes vocational education in addi- 
tion to offering the general subjects. They have grown 
in numbers very slowly, having hardly two per cent 
of the children above twelve years in them. Large num- 
bers of children who leave school at the close of the 
compulsory attendance age, enter the evening continua- 
tion schools ; but these are insufficient in number. They 

383 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

form a link between the elementary schools and the spe- 
cialized schools of science and art which are maintained 
by special grants of the national government. 

English Secondary Education. — Until the commence- 
ment of the twentieth century practically no provision 
was made for secondary education for the children of the 
middle and laboring classes. Secondary education was 
in the control of the public schools, the grammar schools, 
and the ' ' private adventure ' ' schools. The English ' ' pub- 
lic" schools are the seven endowed, aristocratic board- 
ing schools, viz., Winchester, Eton, Shrewsbury, West- 
minster, Rugby, Harrow, and Charterhouse, and the two 
similar day schools, St. Paul's and Merchant Taylors', 
in London. They are all over three hundred years old, 
are attended by the social elite of England, and pre- 
pare directly for Oxford and Cambridge. The '^ gram- 
mar ' ' schools are also endowed schools scattered thruout 
the country, many of as ancient lineage as the public 
schools and pursuing similar work. The ''private ad- 
venture" schools sprang up in large numbers after the 
passage of the Reform Bill of 1832. They were usually 
founded by stock companies and were the first second- 
ary schools to introduce a ''modern side," to compete 
with the "classical side." They have done very fine 
work ; they were practically the first institutions to pro- 
vide secondary education for girls. These three kinds 
of schools are private, receive children at a compara- 
tively early age, from seven to ten, and keep them until 
they are fourteen, sixteen, or, in the case of the public 
and some of the grammar schools, until they are eighteen 
years of age. The Act of 1902 provided for the esta]b- 
lishment of public secondary schools by the local au- 
thorities, and the latter have undertaken the task with 
enthusiasm. In order to encourage secondary educa- 

384 



NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION 

tion, the national grants are given to any schools, pri- 
vate or public, which meet the requirements of the 
Board of Education. This means that the curriculum, 
length of school term, and hours of attendance must 
meet with the approval of the Board, that no religious 
tests are demanded by the school, and that the school is 
open to the Board's inspection at any time. Moreover, 
twenty-five per cent of the annual admissions to any 
secondary school receiving governmental grants must 
be from public elementary schools. In 1910 there were 
altogether 1,037 secondary schools receiving government 
grants, of which 325 were public schools maintained by 
local authorities. 

English Higher Education. — Until almost the close of 
the nineteenth century university instruction in Eng- 
land was given only in the ancient seats, of learning, 
Oxford and Cambridge. These have been slowly mod- 
ernized by the dropping of theological requirements 
for a degree, the introduction of laboratory courses in 
science, the establishment of colleges for women (who 
are admitted to the university courses tho not granted 
a degree), and by the general attempt to diffuse higher 
education thru university extension courses. Oxford 
and Cambridge still remain the strongholds of social 
and educational conservatism, however. During the 
past generation there have grown up municipal uni- 
versities better adjusted to modern needs, progressive in 
spirit and purpose, granting degrees equally to men and 
women, and closely articulated with the municipal pub- 
lic schools. They have been established and are chiefly 
supported by the municipal governments of Birming- 
ham, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, and Bristol; but 
they also receive parliamentary grants and gifts from 
private sources. The University of London, which was 

385 



THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

established in 1836 as an examining body only, became 
in 1901 a teaching institution; it consists of a federa- 
tion of twenty-six colleges and schools, organized in 
eight faculties, and well articulated with the municipal 
schools. Altogether the progress made in England to 
provide for secondary and higher education in recent 
years is distinctly encouraging. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Articles in Cyclopedia of Education on England, France, 
Germany and the United States. 

Brown, E. E. Making of Our Middle Schools. 
' CuBBERLEY, E. P. Syllabus in the Histoiy of Education. 
Chaps. XXXVIII-XLII. 

Dexter, E. G. History of Education in the United States. 

Farrington, F. E. French Secondary Schools. 

. The Public Primary System of France. 

Graves, F. P. A History of Education. Vol. Ill, Chaps. 
IV, VI, VIII, IX. 

Hinsdale, B. A. Horace Mann and the Common School 
Revival. 

Monroe, Paul. Textbook in the History of Education. 
Pp. 729-739. 

Montmorency, J. E., de. State Intervention in English Edu- 
cation. 

Parker, S. C. The History of Modem Elementary Edu- 
cation. Chaps. X-XII. 

Paulsen, F. German Education. 

. The German Universities. 

Russell, J. E. German Higher Schools. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

However small may be the library of a college department 
of education, or of a normal school, the following list of books 
is the irreducible minimum with which to conduct an intro- 
ductory course in the History of Education: 
Boyd, W. The Educational Theory of Rousseau. Long- 
mans, Green & Co. 1911. The best book on the sub- 
ject at present. 
CuBBERLEY, E. P. Sylldbus in History of Education. 
Macmillan Co. 1904. Exhaustive bibliography upon 
every topic in the history of education with admira- 
ble suggestions as to proper sequence of reading. 
Davidson, Thomas. Aristotle and the Ancient Edmcational 
Ideals. Charles Scribner's Sons. 1896. Portrays the 
historical development of Greek education. 
Dewey, John and Evelyn. Schools of Tomorrow. E. 
P. Dutton & Co. 1916. Gives an admirable exposition 
of the tendencies and movements current in education 
today. 
Graves, Frank P. A History of Education, (Three vol- 
umes.) Macmillan & Co. 1910. Another work of su- 
perior merit and standard character. 
Laurie, S. S. History of Educational Opinion Since the 
Renaissance. The Cambridge University Press. 1905, 
Gives another view of the men treated by Quick. 

. Pre-Christian Education. Longmans, Green & Co. 

1909. An excellent review of ancient education. 
MiSAWA, Tadasu. Modern Educators and Their Ideals, 
D. Appleton & Co. 1909. A third view of the men 
treated by Quick. Particularly good on the German 
educators. 

387 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Monroe, Paul (Editor). Cyclopedia of Ediication. Mac- 
millan Co. 1914. A mine of information upon every 
phase of education. Indispensable. 

. Textbook in the History of Education. . Macmillan 

Co. 1908. This splendid pioneer work will long retain 
its standard character. 
Parker, S. C. A History of Modern Elementary Educa- 
tion. Ginn & Co. 1912. It is hard to use words too flatter- 
ing to describe this admirable book. The books listed 
above under the names of Graves, Monroe, and Parker, 
used as reference works in connection with this text- 
book, will enable the student to pursue an excellent in- 
troductory course. 
QuiCJK, R. H. Educational Reformers. D. Appleton & 
Co. 1896. A very fair estimate of the work and in- 
fluence of the chief educational reformers since the Re- 
naissance. 
Rashdall, H. The Universities of Europe in the Mid- 
dle Ages. Oxford Clarendon Press. 1895. An excel- 
lent description of educational conditions in the Middle 
Ages. 
In addition to references in these works, the few best books 
on the subject matter of each chapter are given at its 
close. Many of the topics in the history of education are of 
general interest and sometimes of a controverted nature. The 
student may consult with profit the Catholic and Jewish En- 
cyclopedias, and the Encyclopedia Britannica, as well as the 
Cyclopedia of Education, upon such topics. 

Students who feel the need of a larger knowledge of the 
historical background of educational development should con- 
sult the following: 
Adams, G. B. Civilization During the Middle Ages. Charles 

Scribner's Sons. 1894. 
Robinson, J. H. History of Western Europe. Ginn & Co. 

1903. 
West, W. M. The Ancient World. AUyn & Bacon. 1904. 

388 



PRONOUNCING GLOSSARY 

An dro ni'cus Guy enne' - (ge en) 

An to ni'nus Gym na'si en - (hard g) 

A qui'nas Hi er o nym'ian 

Ar chi me'des - (k) I soc'ra tes 

As'cham - (k) lit te ra'tor 

A ver'ro es Lo yo'la 

A vi cen'na - (s) mai eu'tic (mi) 

Ba'se dow - (do) Mai pi'ghi - (hard g) 

Bo e'thi us Me laneh'thon - (k) 

Caes a re'a mis'si do mi ni' ci 

Cas si o do'rus Pa cho'mi us - (k) 

cat e chet'i cal - (k) pa les'tra 

cat e chu'men al - (k) Pan ta'gru el 

Chrys o lo'ras ped a go'gus 

Col'et Per'ga mum 

Co per'ni cus Pes ta loz'zi - (lot si) 

Cor de'ri us Pe'trarch 

di das ca le'um Phil an thro pin'um 

di'o cese - (sis) Pris'cian - (sh) 

Do na'tus Ra ba'nus 

e pheb'os Ra'be lais - (lay) 

E phe sus Reuch'lin - (oy) 

E pi cu re'an rhe'tor 

E pi cu'rus Rit'ter a ka de'mi en 

E ra tos'the nes t5'ga virflis 

E ri'ge na - ( j ) Tor ri cel'li - (ch) 

Fe ne Ion' Ur'su line 

Gal i le'o Y ver don' 

Gar gan'tu a 

389 



INDEX 



Abelard, 96, 99 

Academy, in America, 164, 337 
in England, 163 f . 
of Franklin, 164, 283 
of Plato, 45 

*' Address to Philanthropists" 
(Basedow), 216 

Agassiz, Louis, 282 

Agricola, 121 

Albertus Magnus, 107 

Alcuin, 85, 87 

Alfred of England, 86 

American Journal of Educa- 
tion (Barnard), 353 

Andronicus, Livius, 56 

Annual Beports (Horace 
Mann), 349 

Anselm, 95 

Antioch, 72 

Aquinas, 94, 97, 98, 105, 107, 
143 

Archimedes, 48 

Aristotle, 39 f., 105, 143, 165, 
183 

Ascham, 127 

Atheneum, 61 

Augustine, 73 

Aver roes, 93 f. 

Avicenna, 92, 105 

Bacon, Francis, 158, 168, 169 f ., 

272 
Barnard, Henry, 242, 352 f. 



Basedow, 216 f. 

Basil, 72, 79 

Bell, Andrew, 291 

Benedict, St., 79 f . 

Blankenburg, 258 

Blow, Susan, 266 

Board schools, 301, 380 

Boethius, 81, 87, 105 

Boston Latin school, 128 

Boyle, 166 

Brethren of the Common Life, 

120 f. 
British and Foreign Society, 

291 
Brothers of Sincerity, 92 
Billow, Baroness von, 264 
Burgdorf, 229 
Burgher schools, 114 

Csesarea, 72 
Calvin, 134, 138 
Capella, Martianus, 81 
Carter, James G., 343 
Cassiodorus, 81 
Catechetical schools, 71 
Catechumenal schools, 70 
Cathedral schools, 73 
Chantry schools, 114 
Charlemagne, 85 f . 
Charles VIII, 122 
Chivalry, 88 f. 
Christian Brothers, 149 f . 
Chrysoloras, Manuel, 119 



391 



INDEX 



Churcli Fathers, 72 f. 
Cicero, 57, 64, 124 
Cieeronianism, 118, 146 
" Ciceronians, The,'' 124 
Clement of Alexandria, 71, 72 
Clinton, De Witt, 338 
Coekerton Judgment, 383 
Colet, 127 

College de France, 122 
College de Guyenne, 122 
College of William and Mary, 

332 
Colleges Communaux, 376 
''Colloquies," 124 
Combe, George, 281 
Comenius, 151, 158, 171 f. 
Common School Journal, 350 
''Conduct of Schools," 149 f. 
"Conduct of the Understand- 
ing, The," 191 
Constantius Africanus, 99 
Copernicus, 116, 165 
Corderius, 138 

"Corpus Juris Civilis," 105 
Council of Trent, 140 
Court schools, 120 
Cousin, Victor, 241 

his "Report," 241, 242 
Culture-epoch theory, 250, 252 
Cuvier, 272 

Darwin, 272, 282 
"Decretum" (Gratian), 105 
Defectives, education of, 314 f. 
De Garmo, Charles, 253 
"De Oratore," 57 
Descartes, 166 
Dewey, John, 224, 246, 267, 

319 f. 
Didascaleum, 20 
Diderot, 196 



392 



District schools, 336, 342 
Dominicans, 107 
Donatus, 63, 105 
Double translation, 127 
Duns Seotus, 107 

Edessa, 72 

"Education" (Spencer), 273, 
274 f. 

"Education of Children, On 
the," 162 

"Education of Girls, On the," 
152 

"Education of Man," 257 

Edwards, Ninian W., 356 

" Elementarie, " 168 

"Elementarwerk, Das," 217 

Elementary education, in Eng- 
land, 383 f. 
in France, 375 
in Germany, 366 f. 

Eliot, Charles W., 278, 282 

"Emile," 205, 206 f. 

Encyclopedists, 196 

Epicurus, school of, 45 

Erasmus, 122, 123 f., 127, 128 

Eratosthenes, 48 

Erigena, Johannes Seotus, 87 

Ernest the Pious, of Gotha, 
152 

"Essay on the Human Under- 
standing," 190 

"Ethics" (Aristotle), 39 

Euclid, 48 

Exile, 9 

Exodus, 8 

Faculty psychology, 183, 246 
Fellenberg, 235, 288 f. 
Fenelon, 152 
Fichte, 239 



INDEX 



Formal discipline, 183 f. 
Forster Act, 295, 301, 380 
FortbildungschAile, 367 
Franciscans, 107 
Francke, 178, 179, 288 
Frauensclmlen, 371 
Frederick the Great, 360 
Frederick William I, 360 
Frederick William II, 362 
Free School Society, 338 
Froebel, 255 f . 
Fiirstenschulen, 125 

Galen, 105 
Galileo, 165 
Galloway, Samuel, 356 
Gambetta, 298, 374 
**Gargantua and Pantagruel, ' ' 

159 
Gary schools, 317 
General School Regulations, 

361 
Gifts, 262 
Gild schools, 114 
Goethe, 187 
Gotha, 152 
Grammaticus, school of the, 

57, 58 
Granada, 93 
Gratian, 155 
Gray, Asa, 282 
*' Great Didactic," 172 f. 
Gregory of Nazianzus, 72 
Guizot, 373 f. 
Gymnasium, German, 125, 363, 

365 
Greek, 23 

Hall, G. Stanley, 252, 323 
Harris, William T., 265 f. 
Harvey, 166 



Hecker, 179, 278 

Helvetius, 196 

Henry VIII, 127 

Herbart, 224, 243, 244 f. 

Herbart Society, 353 

Herder, 187 

Hieronymians, 121 

Higher education, in England, 

385 
in France, 377 f. 
in Germany, 371 f. 
Hippocrates, 105 
Hofwyl, 236, 288 
Home and Colonial School 

Society, 295 
Homer, 23, 118 
**How Gertrude Teaches Her 

Children,'' 229 
Humanism, 115 f . 
Humanism, the new, 187 
Humboldt, William von, 363 
Huxley, 277 

Induction, 170 f. 
Infant School Society, 242 
Infant schools, 242, 294, 346 
Institutes of the Christian Re- 
ligion, 134 
Irnerius, 99 
Isidore of Seville, 82 
Isocrates, 43, 44 

James, William, 322 

Jansenists, 146 f . 

'^Janua Linguarum," 175 

Jefferson, Thomas, 297, 341 

Jerome, 73, 79 

Jesuits, 140 f . 

Jews, 7 f . 

Joshua ben Gamala, 11 

'' Journal of a Father,'' 226 



393 



INDEX 



Judd, C. H., 322 
Justinian, 47 

Kant, Immanuel, 245 
Keilhau, 257 
Kempis, Thomas a, 122 
Kepler, 165 

Kindergarten, 258, 260 f. 
Knox, 138 

La Fontaine, 149 

Lagrange, 279 

Lamarck, 272 

Lancaster, 291 

Laplace, 279 

La Salle, 149 f . 

Law, Jewish, 9 f . 

Law of 1647 (Massachusetts), 
334 

*'Law8, The,*' 35 

Laws of the Twelve Tables, 55, 
56 

Leibnitz, 166 

''Leonard and Gertrude, »' 227 

Lessing, 187 

"Letter," of Luther, 135 

"Liberal Education of Chil- 
dren,'* 124 

Library, at Alexandria, 47 f. 
Temple of Peace, 61 
Vatican, 116 

Liebig, 279 

Lilly, 128 

Litterator, school of the, 57 

"Little schools" of Port Eoyal, 
147 f. 

Locke, 158, 190 f., 272 

Louis XIV, 147 

Loyola, 140 f . 

Ludiis, 55 

Luther, 134 f. 



Lycee, 279, 375 f . 
Lyceum, 45 
Lyell, 272 

McMurry, Charles, 253 
McMurry, Frank, 253 
Mddchenschulen, 371 
Malpighi, 166 
Mann, Horace, 242, 284, 343, 

349 f. 
Mantua, school of, 119 
Maternal schools, 294, 375 
Maurus, Eabanus, 87 
Mayo, Charles, 241, 295 
Mayo, Elizabeth, 241 
Melanchthon, 136 
Merchant Taylors' School, 384 
Method, Socratic, 33 
Method- Whole, 249 f. 
"Methodenbuch, Das," 217 
Mills, Caleb, 356 
Milton, 157, 159 f. 
Mittelschule, 368 
Mohammedanism, 92 
Monastery, Canterbury, 84 

Cluny, 84 

Fulda, 84, 87 

Monte Cassino, 79, 84 

Reichenau, 84 

St. Gall, 84 

Tours, 84, 87 

Wearmouth, 84 

Yarrow, 84 

York, 84 
Monastic schools, 81 f. 
Monitorial schools, 290, 346 
Montaigne, 158, 161 f. 

essays of, 162 
Montesquieu, 196 
Montessori, 315 f. 
More, Thomas, 127, 138 



394 



INDEX 



MorriU Act, 282 

** Mother Play and Nursery 

Songs/' 262 
Moving school, 335 
Muleaster, 168 f. 
Museum, at Alexandria, 48 

Napier, 166 

Napoleon, 373 

National Education Association, 

243 
National Society, 291 
Nations, in the universities, 101 
Naturalism, 207 f. 
Natural punishments, 209, 277 
Negative education, 208 
Nestorius, 92 
Neuhof, 226 

''New Atlantis, The," 169 
''New H61oise, The," 206 
New learning, 117, 122 
Newton, 166, 180, 280 
Nisibis, 72, 92 
Nominalism, 95 
"Novum Organum, " 170 

Oberlin, Jean F., 294 
Oberrealschule, 278, 366 
OherscTiulkollegium, 362, 363 
Occam, William of, 97, 107 
Occupations, of Froebel, 262 
Oratorians, 279 
"Orbis Pictus," 176, 217 
"Order of Study," 124 
"Organon," 42, 105, 170 
Origen of Alexandria, 71, 72 
Oswego movement, 242 f . 
"Outlines of Educational Doc- 
trine," 246 
Owen, Robert, 294 
Oxford, 100, 385 



395 



Pachomius, 79 

Palace school, 85, 87 

Palestra, 20 f. 

Pancratium, 24 

Pansophia, 170, 172, 173 

Pantsenus, 71 

Parish schools, 138 

Parker, Colonel F. W., 255, 267 

Pascal, 149 

Peabody, Elizabeth P., 265 

Pedagogium, 179 

"Pedantry, On," 162 

Pennsylvania Society, 340 

Pentathlon, 22 

Pestalozzi, 149, 218, 224, 225 f ., 

272, 277 
Peter the Lombard, 98, 99, 105 
Petrarch, 117, 118 f. 
Philanthropinum, 217, 288 
Philanthropy in education, 

288 f. 
Philo the Jew, 48 
Philosophical schools, Athens, 

45 f. 
Pietists, 178 
Plato, 34 f . 
"Politics," 39 
Port Royal schools, 147 f. 
"Positions," 168 
"Praise of FoUy," 124 
Prelection, 144 f. 
Princes' schools, 125 
Priscian, 63, 105 
Progymnasium, 368 
Prophets, 9 
Protagoras, 27 f ., 32 
Psychological movement, 224 f. 
Ptolemy, 47, 105 
Public school revival, 348 
Public School Society, 296, 338, 

355 



INDEX 



Public schools, English, 128, 



281, 384 



Quadrivium, 82 
Quintilian, 60, 64 f. 

Eabanus Maunis, 87 
Eabelais, 157, 159 
Eacine, 149 
Eaikes, Eobert, 290 
"Eatio Studiorum,'' 141 f. 
Eationalism in education, 189 f. 
Eealgymnasium, 278, 366 
Eealism, 157 f. 

in contrast with Nominalism, 
95 

humanistic, 159 f . 

sense-, 165 f. 

social, 160 f. 
Bealprogymnasmm, 368 
Bealschulen, 179, 278, 365 
Eecitation, five formal steps of, 

249 
Eeformation, 132 f . 

in England, 138 f . 
Beformschule, 370 
Eein, Wilhelm, 252 f . 
Eenaissance, 115 f. 

in England, 127 f. 

in France, 122 

in Italy, 117 f. 

in Teutonic countries, 122 f . 
Eensselaer Polytechnic Insti- 
tute, 282 
Eeport of Eoyal Conmussion, 

128, 186 
''EepubUc, The," 34, 37 f. 
Eeuchlin, 121 

Bhetor, school of the, 57, 60 
Ehetorical schools, Athens, 44 f . 
Eitterdkademien, 163, 178 



Eollin, 149 
EosceUinus, 95 
Eouseeau, 203 f. 

St. Cyran, Abb6 de, 147 
St. Paul's School, 127 f., 384 
Salamanca, 93 
Salzmann, 218 
Saxony school plan, 137 
Schiller, 187 
Scholarchs, 46 
Scholasticism, 94 f. 
< ' Scholemaster, The, ' ' 127 
Schulze, Johannes, 362 
"Science of Education,'* 245 
Secondary education, in Eng- 
land, 384 

in France, 375 f. 

in Germany, 368 f . 
Seguin, Edouard, 315 
Seminar, 371 

"Sermon'' (Luther), 135 
Seven liberal arts, 82 
Seventh Annual Beport ^Horace 

Mann), 242, 351 
Seville, 93 
Sheldon, E. A., 242 
"Sic et Non," 96 
"Social Contract," 205, 206 f. 
Society of Jesus. See Jesuits 
Sociological movement, 286 f. 
Socrates, 32 f ., 43 
Sophists, 27 f ., 44, 197 
Spartan education, 16, 37 
Spencer, Herbert- 252, 273, 

274 f. 
S. P. C. K., 289 
S. P. G., 290 
Stanz, 228 
Stoics, 45 
Strassburg, 126 



396 



INDEX 



Studvwm generale, 101 

Sturm, 126 

Suetonius, 64 

<*Sunmia Theologiae, ' ' 97, 98, 

105 
Sunday School Society, 290 
Sunday schools, 290, 346 
Surveys, 318 
SyUabaries, 233 

Tacitus, 64 

Talmud, 11, 12 

Technische Hochschulen, 372 

Tertullian, 73 

Thorndike, Edward L., 318, 
322 

** Thoughts concerning Educa- 
tion, '» 191 

Toledo, 93 

Torricelli, 166 

* * Tractate on Education,, ' ' 
159 f ., 164 

Trivhim, 82 

Turgot, 196 

Tyndale, 134 

TyndaU, 272 

University, Alexandria, 47 f. 
Athens, 43, 46 f. 
Berlin, 363 
Bologna, 99 
Brown, 336 
Cambridge, 100, 385 
Columbia, 333 
Dartmouth, 336 
English municipal, 280, 386 
of France, 373, 377 
Gottingen, 187 
Halle, 178, 278 
Harvard, 336 
Jena, 187 



397 



University, Leipzig, 100, 251 

London, 386 

Marseilles, 61 

Michigan, 357 

Oxford, 100, 385 

Padua, 100 

Paris, 99 

Pennsylvania, 333 

Pergamus, 47 

Prague, 100 

Princeton, 333 

Rhodes, 47 

Rome, 61 

Salerno, 99 

Saracen, 93 

of the State of New York, 
354 

Tarsus, 47 

Virginia, 341 

Yale, 336 
Ursulines, 152 

Vespasian, 61 

Virgil, 63, 118 

Vittorino da Feltre, 119 f . 

Volkschule, 367 

Voltaire, 196 

Voluntary schools, 301, 381 

Vorschule, 367 

Wallace, 272 

Wandering students (vagantes, 

goliardi), 103 
Weimar, 152 
Wilderspin, Samuel, 295 
William of Occam, 97, 107 
Wirt, William A., 317 
Wolsey, 127 
Woman's education, Aristotle, 

41 
Catholic reaction, 152 



INDEX 



*<:? 



Woman 's education, chivalry, 
90 f. 
Erasmus, 124 
Greeks, 18 
Jews, 11 
Middle Ages, 85 
Plato, 37 
present status, 359, 371, 

377 
Reformation, 134, 136 



Woman's education, Rousseau, 

212 f. 
Wiirtemburg, 137, 152 

Xenophon, 34 

Yverdon, 229 

Zedlitz, von, 362 

ZiUer, Tuiskon, 250, 251 f. 



(I) 




5^V 



